How I Dry My Herbs and Uses for Those Herbs!

What An Herbal Mess!

My work space is even more jammed than normal.  What you see on the table may or may not be used.  The Herbal Husband cut down even the brown bits and it remains to be smelled and decided about their fate!  I have no excuses for not getting this done.  Oh, maybe one.  I have been stitching!

One of my faithful readers, Faith asked a few weeks ago how I dry my herbs and how do I use them.  Faith, depending on how much time I have, I either hang them or layer them in paper toweling.  You can dry them in a very slow oven or in the microwave. I have an electric stove.  It would be better in a gas oven and microwaves are hit or miss.  I just let them air dry naturally.  You must make sure that the herbs are dry not wet from rain or dew so that they don't get moldy.  I don't put a whole lot of stems together, because they will not dry easily.  Here is a link to a previous post, Drying Your Herbs Made Simple and Smells from the Herb Garden Contained! that may be of help.

That post talks about paper towel layering which I love because you get a bonus of scented paper toweling.  The two main reasons I dry my herbs are to make potpourri for gift giving and to make herbal tea.  I also make herb mixes if I have enough herbs cut.  Most times I don't have that luxury.

Potpourri my way is getting a big container and it is usually a plastic one with a cover.  I have gotten in trouble suggesting plastic containers as storage.  If the herbs are at all wet and have not dried, you will get moldy herbs not dry ones.  And that has happened to me.  I am not immune from mistakes!  Glass containers with tops are preferred and tinted ones even better so the herbs do not fade.  I have some really big old glass jars that came from a commercial kitchen.  I think all of those jars are now plastic not glass.  Any way I just dump my ingredients into the container and mix it all up.  And then as I make gifts, I use tiny hemlock cones to infuse the potpourri with essential oils with individual containers.  Ingredients can include lemon verbena, rose petals, lavender flowers, mints, thyme, calendula petals, etc.  Continuing the Potpourri Conversation and Getting Crazy with the Boxes! has a bunch of potpourri resources.  Unless you want to buy your ingredients, you will be limited by what you dry.  But I have found that recipients are very amazed and grateful that you thought enough about them to give them a gift from your herb garden.  Simple Holiday Crafts with Herbs that I wrote for Mother Earth Living several years ago has some more favorite tips.  Just be sure to click on the Continue Reading tab to get the full post!   As I said in that post, a potpourri recipe is like a culinary recipe and you may not have all of the ingredients, but you may find a new combination that works better for you.

I sometimes don't talk enough about an herbal subject as I should and tea maybe one of them.  I did a post for Mother Earth Living in 2014 that was called Celebrate National Hot Tea Month and it will give you three of my favorite herbal tea blends and some other resources.  Again find that Continue Reading button and click it to get the full post!  Making Herbal Tea Blends gives you a French tisane recipe favorite and Tea Around Town  you will find a link to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article that has a bunch of information that I think you will find useful.  Again, it does come down to the herbs you have dried and how you will use them.  Hopefully these resources will give you some great ideas!

Coming to the end of another year, 2017!  I will be doing my year-end review in the next post!  Not much to review although I did manage to do at least one post per month over the year!  It is frigid in the 'Burgh and as I sit sipping a lemon ginger tea (lemongrass, ginger, lemon peel and a cinnamon stick) to make me feel better, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  I didn't get Christmas presents, I got a cold!  Healthy all year and get to the holidays and collapse!  I think it is that way for a lot of people!  Stay warm if you in the northern half of the U.S.  I will talk to you later.

The Spearmint Lives On!

A Tiny Bit of Green in A Lot of Brown!

Wow!  Where has November gone?  I certainly didn't have a lot to say, did I?  And now The Herbal Husband has gone to visit family and friends in Peru!  I guess that is the good news and bad news.  I know I take for granted what he does for me around here each and every day!  I am exhausted chasing those darn squirrels away from the peanut caddy!!

I was out on the street brooming the leaves from our neighbor's giant oak tree into the front beds.  It is a wild and crazy thing.  The spearmint is surviving in a sea of brown!  I did get some lemon verbena and Texas tarragon cut and hanging in the basement to dry.   So I will be down in the workroom some day next week.  I really need to work on some herbal tea blends.  I have been drinking too much black tea!  Never!  But this is an herbal blog and I need to start using what I dried!

We are having spring type weather here.  It was 65° yesterday!   Supposedly the bottom will drop out next week.  I really do enjoy sweater weather.  Now on to the important stuff.  I didn't get to do a blogiversary giveaway in August.  I will however be doing a monster Herbal Christmas giveaway soon.  Please stay tuned!  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Looks like turkey leftovers are tonight's dinner.  Talk to you soon.

A Question About Dried Lemon Verbena!

Don't Store Your Dried Herbs in Plastic Bags!

First and foremost I am always here to answer your herbal questions at any time.  I love doing research about herbs particular my favorite, lemon verbena.

Over the weekend I got an email from a new reader who googled lemon verbena uses and came up with my blog.  She had purchased dried herbs from a reputable source, lemon verbena and lemon balm.  She was disappointed with the scent of the dried lemon verbena in particular.  It had no scent.

As you can see by the photo I have excess dried lemon verbena, and I didn't take my own advice and at least date it to know how old it is.  It's old!  I will be using these leaves as filler in potpourri.  I told my reader that old lemon verbena loses its scent.  She purchased it as new product.  So I told her to grind some leaves up and see if that would bring out the scent.  If that doesn't help, I think she should try to get her money back because I know that dried lemon verbena is typically not cheap.

So I am suggesting to you that if you are going to buy dried herbs make sure that the company you are purchasing from are known for their dried herbs.  If the herbs do not have scent, you should return them for your money back or if there is a no return policy, at least get a credit for some other product besides dried herbs.

I will also tell you to use your dried lemon verbena leaves promptly.  Get your recipes or thoughts together once they are dried and start mixing!  If you can't use all that you have dried, place them in a  glass jar with a tight lid.  I was reminded by my friend on Facebook, Denise that plastic can cause mold if the leaves aren't very dry and have some moisture to them.  In fact I wrote about it just last year!  The mind is failing me!  I think I need a boost of rosemary!  Here is a link called "Been Busy in My Herbal Work Space."

Lemon balm is typically not the best lemon herb dried.  I will suggest that if you dry lemon balm that you use it right away.  And lastly, you always need more than what you expect.  So make sure you have a lot of plants producing because potpourri or even tea blends take a lot of leaves to make the right mixes.  Here are links to my favorite potpourri and tea blends.

It is a beautiful day here in the 'Burgh.  The temperature is close to 80 degrees.  Rain later today and a bit cooler tomorrow.  Will be out in the garden cutting herbs back in my next post.  Hope you are having a fabulous day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.
 

Still Busy Making Tea Blends!

Looks Like a Potpourri but It is a Tea Blend called Kittatinny Tea

Sometimes the smallest herb books provide the most information.  It is with a small booklet I found at The Village Herb Shop one year.  It is called Beverages with Herb Scents by the Western Reserve Unit of the Herb Society of America.  Thanks ladies for putting so much great information about herbal teas into 13 pages!

Kittatinny is a mountain in the Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.  So it is a perfect blend for me to be doing.  I was running out of my self-sealing teabags.  So I put two teaspoons into these.  So I may get two steepings rather than just one.

Kittatinny Tea
(Makes approximately 23 teabags with 2 teaspoons each)
Steep for 5 minutes

2 cups lemon verbena leaves, crushed
1/2 cup chamomile flowers
1/4 cup rosemary blades
1/2 cup fragrant rose petals

Mix all together.  Bake for 30 minutes at 150 degrees.  Store in a dark dry place.

I did not bake the mixture.  I guess baking would enhance the flavor of the mix or kill off any hangers on!  The description says it is a good afternoon tea and is nice with scones, jam, fruit or light cake!

We are still very cold, but a break from the cold is going to happen next week, but not before we get a bit of snow tomorrow into Friday!  Will it ever end!  Well, since I was early celebrating Valentine's Day, we are going to go out for our Valentine's dinner tonight!  We have really been staying at home and not going anywhere.  So a night to celebrate is in order!  Going to T.G.I. Fridays and getting a free dessert!  Can't beat that!  Talk to you later!

Guest Blogging for Mother Earth Living Magazine!

As I eluded to in an earlier post, I have been busy making herbal blends from the containers on my worktable in the basement.  As National Hot Tea month is coming to an end, here are some recipes for herbal tea blends that I found in booklets from some of my favorite herb sources.  The post is entitled Celebrate National Hot Tea Month.  Please if you have questions about tea or herbal teas, I would be happy to answer them.  I'm going to try and put together a list of herbs that would make great herbal teas by themselves.  I wonder what I may suggest?  Maybe my favorite?  I'm going to be working in other tea recipes I have found and tips on steeping teas, etc.  Stay tuned to find out what I'm up to!

We finally had a very sunny day here not typical for the 'Burgh in winter.  It is still very cold, but actually we had a double digit day above 10 degrees.  We are supposed to be in the 20's tomorrow.  Never thought I would say yippee to that number!  So stay warm.  Make a cup of herbal tea and enjoy my latest post.  Talk to you later.

Herbal Tea for the Holidays!

I am making a conscious effort to make more herbal gifts this year.  I was looking at my pile of containers filled with herbs and thinking I need to make something from the herbs I have.   When you have a lot, it is easier to make something.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I'm always looking for tea on a cold winter's day and since it is the first day of winter, it's in the 50's!  Ridiculous.

OK, the photo above is measuring out the herbs.  The tea blend I made is of lemon balm, lemon verbena and spearmint.  I found it in an Savoring Summer Iced Teas from The Herb Companion by Maggie Oster and click on winning iced tea combinations, you will see different combinations.  I thought this one would be good hot as well.   It is two parts lemon balm, one part lemon verbena and one part spearmint.  So what you ask is a part?  My definition of a part is any measurement you want it to be.  In my case, I made a part, a cup.  So the recipe becomes 2 cups of lemon balm, 1 cup of lemon verbena and 1 cup of spearmint.  If you only have a teaspoon or so, a part would be a teaspoon size measure.

I combined all of the leaves into one container and took some scissors and snipped through the leaves.  You can do this as you are putting them into the main container.  I thoroughly mixed all of the herbs together and then put two teaspoons into my make your own tea bags from Nichols Garden Nursery out in Oregon.  The directions just calls for one teaspoon, but I was generous and used two teaspoons and the bag seems to last for at least a couple of cups.  Even if I crush the bag before brewing the first cup, it seems to be better for the second cup.  I thought it was good hot, but you may enjoy it cold as well.  That is how it is meant to be served.

Finally got a wreath up on our new door, but of course, there is controversy about which wreath to put there!  I'll show you in an upcoming post.  Winter solstice is upon us and it's in the 50's!  Just weird!  Hope you're having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.

Leaning Tower of Herbs!

Been busy the last couple of days in my newly cleaned up workspace.  I would have gotten more done, but we are taking our friend, Jim, out for dinner at Friday's.  Dinner at Friday's on Friday!  We hardly ever do that!  Those coupons they give are enticing!  This is a little leaning tower of herbs that hopefully will yield some tea blends, anise hyssop, mint, lemon balm and, of course, lemon verbena.  I have also started the artemisia tree and I promise to have those photos over the weekend.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later!

An Herbal Lightbulb Moment-Mexican Mint Marigold in Tea Blends!

Had an herbal lightbulb moment while I was exercising this afternoon.  The Flower Lady and I have been having a discussion about tarragon and tea.  Well, Flower Lady, I came up with the option for you if you want a tarragon flavor in your tea blend, it is Mexican mint marigold or Tagetes lucida.  It dries very well and I used it in my first tea blend!  Duh!  I used it as a highlight.  Sometimes I have so much information in my brain, I can't see the herbs for the trees!  Mexican mint marigold is grown by folks in the south who can't necessarily grow tarragon.  I think it is also easilly grown from seed if you can't find the plant.  I don't always have enough space or time to grow the seeds and I can't always find the plant in western Pennsylvania.  It is becoming more available in our area.  Also I wanted to show you the photo of the book I use as a jumping off point for my tea blends.

Another Honeycomb of Tea! (UPDATED)

Well, I was busy again over the weekend.  I did not get much dried herbwise this season.  Sooo I'm taking what I dried last season and I am making tea bags.  Lemon Verbena Lady Blend II is made up of lemon verbena mostly, a little orange peel, orange mint and rose geranium.  I had some last night and mostly got lemon verbena and rose geranium in the flavor.  I'm going to have a second brew this afternoon or later this evening and maybe I'll have a different opinion.  I'll let you know.  UPDATE:  I did have a second brew of the first tea bag and my opinion hasn't changed, mostly lemon verbena (a favorite) and rose geranium and the first time around there was a hint of orange mint.  Because I have GERD (reflux disease) I shouldn't have too much mint!  Mint and herbs are forever connected.  It makes it tough when you want some in your tea blends.  So I use one herb as a foundation and a couple of other herbs as extras or highlights.

Busy As a Bee, But I Have To Use An Iron!

Sunday was sort of a down day, but I used it to clean up my work table in the basement. Again!  There was chamomile a plenty on the table and I found my teabags and started filling them.

Here they are filled and it looks like a honeycomb.  Then the part that is really easy, but it involves an iron!  You seal the bags with an iron.  Very easy!  I got forty little bags, but then we had to use two to make tea!  So wonderful to have herbal harvests that you can enjoy through the winter.  Hope you are enjoying a cup of tea wherever you may be!

A Good Day for Herbal Tea!

It is a cold, icy and icky day in the 'Burgh! It is a great day for an herbal cup of tea. It is National Hot Tea month and I pretty much forgot. So I thought I would go out with a bang! I made this cup of herbal tea this afternoon. Some crushed lemon verbena, rose petals, lavender, stevia, peppermint, winter savory in my magic basket. I do get carried away. It was a little too intense. So I would combine lemon verbena with the stevia and peppermint or the rose petals, lavender and winter savory with some stevia. If you like sweet in your tea, you will love the dried stevia. It is very good. I only put one or two leaves in and it is more than sweet enough for me. It is fun to experiment and hopefully I will give you a few more ideas before the end of the National Hot Tea celebration. Every day whether it be cold or hot is a good day for tea!

Herbal Tea Time, Part Two!

Here are the elusive teabags that I couldn't find yesterday! The herbal husband actually asked the key question that turned on my herbal lightbulb. I came out of the darkness into the light. Blessings on the herbal husband!

The other day I tested a couple different "blends", the first had everything but the kitchen sink and it was overwhelming. It had eight herbs. It was way too many. Then I tried five herbs and that worked very well. So Lemon Verbena Lady's Lemon Herbal Tea blend is:

1 to 2 parts lemon verbena

1 part lemon grass

1 leaf lemon basil

1/2 leaf mint marigold

1/2 leaf stevia

Being an herbal tea novice, I experimented with using the food processor to chop the dried lemon verbena. Bad idea! The midrib of lemon verbena is like the midrib on a bay leaf, very tough. It doesn't break down easily. So I took about 4 whole leaves of lemon verbena, 2 or 3 pieces of lemon grass, 1 leaf of lemon basil, 1/2 leaf of mint marigold and 1/2 leaf of stevia. You have to play around until you get the right combination for you. This is in an individual teabag recipe. They have bigger ones for teapots that would take more herbs. If the small bag is for one, the larger one is for two or three servings. You need to crush the bag slightly to help the flavor disburse. Pour boiling water over the bag and steep 3 to 5 minutes for the individual bag. I did 4 minutes and it seemed to work perfectly.

I bought the teabags in the picture a long time ago. I checked online at the San Francisco Herb Company site and found all kinds of self sealing tea bags and other products. I think you will find their site helpful. They even have potpourri recipes. In the picture below are the teabags, as they were finished. I found the sachet bags in the photo underneath at Well-Sweep Herb Farm in New Jersey. I think they will make ideal gift bags for my herbal tea blends. More tea blend ideas to come!

Herbal Tea Time!

Some people would say, "How can you work in this space!!" Actually I'm thinking that myself, but I forged ahead and using the book shown here, I came up with Lemon Verbena Lady's Lemon Herbal Tea. The title is too long. I will have to think of something shorter. The first version had too many herbs in it. It was good, but it was too strong. I narrowed it down to about four herbs with, of course, lemon verbena as the base. Tomorrow I will share the recipe with you.

Herbal Tea Harvest

I think this blog has helped me be a better herbalist. I have always drank herbal tea, but it was something that someone else put together. This year I'm going to work on my own blend and to that extent, I have started to dry herbs like peppermint, orange mint, spearmint, sage and pineapple mint. They are in that order from left to right in my photo. I have the self-seal tea bags that once the herbs are dried, I will mix the herbs together along with other herbs to be named later. Until next time.

That Mystery Herb-Stevia

During my herbal cleanup day, I came across a layer of herbs that I didn't recognize right away. I broke my cardinal rule of not labeling a layer when it was different than the rest. I came to my senses and remembered what it was. It is stevia (Stevia rebaudiana), the sweet herb of Paraguay. It has been used for hundreds of years by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay. It is 300 times sweeter than sugar. I did a little experiment today and brewed seven leaves in a cup of hot water. I don't usually like sugar in my tea or coffee, but it was slightly sweet and minty. It was quite good. I may use it this winter in a mix of herbs for tea. My plant is just about to bloom. I guess I need to start cutting it and drying it for winter use.  This is the one herb that is OK to cut after it has bloomed.  You know I always preach, cut before it blooms for best flavor.  Stevia is an exception.   I bought it to use in an herbs in container class I taught earlier in the year. If it had stayed in the container, I probably would have had to pot it up to the next size or keep it clipped back during the season. Here is a picture of stevia in my herb garden.