How to Dry Herbs & Flowers Using a Simple, Ancient Method

Herbs are a valuable part of a kitchen! Learning how to grow herbs and proper methods for harvesting herbs helps save money and provides healthy, flavorful ingredients. Drying fresh herbs for later use will extend their shelf life and allow you to make your own unique herb blends.

I like to preserve herbs the way it has been done for centuries, even by the ancient Egyptians. With no special equipment, this drying method preserves herbs without destroying their quality! With this guide, you can learn how to dry herbs the best and simplest way.

Product Spotlight

The Difference Between Herbs and Spices 

You may know this already, but a spice is different than an herb! For example, cilantro leaves are an herb, but cilantro seeds are a spice known as coriander. 

Herbs are aromatic leaves that are used to flavor food. Think basil and rosemary. (Use these herb growing guides to learn how to grow lavender, how to grow basil, how to grow catnip, and how to grow borage.)

A spice is any other part of a plant that is used to season food. It could be the bark, fruits, roots, seeds, or any part besides the foliage. (Use these guides to grow your own spices: how to grow ginger, how to grow garlic, and how to grow horseradish.) 

My Favorite Method For Drying Herbs

The best method for drying herbs is one that won’t compromise the herb's quality and doesn’t require much labor or equipment! My favorite method is a super simple, very old method called hang drying.

As the name would imply, all you have to do is hang the herbs and let the air dry them. It’s so easy! It doesn’t take any energy at all. Plus, I am not limited by equipment capacity. A large amount of herbs can be hang dried at the same time.

Yet, for some reason, this method is often overlooked, and people actually degrade the quality of their herbs by using heat to speed up drying. Drying herbs in an oven or dehydrator, even on low heat, is a big mistake! The heat will distill the essential oils out of the leaves.

Best Herbs and Flowers To Hang Dry

The best herbs to dry are those with a low moisture content but lots of essential oils. Hang drying allows those oils to be retained in the plant.

Basil, parsley, tarragon, lemon balm and mint are water-rich, so they do not dry very well using this method. They are best eaten fresh! If you do want to dry them, using an oven or dehydrator will dry them quickly enough to prevent mold, but you need to know that it will reduce their quality.

How to Harvest Fresh Herbs

Regularly pruning and harvesting herbs is the best way to keep your herb plants healthy and productive. Harvest fresh herbs when the leaves are dry. Use clean, sharp pruning shears to cut back the foliage.

As a general rule, do not take more than ⅓ of the plant at one time and do not cut away the center of the plant. You should remove flowers to encourage more leafy growth.

How to Dry Herbs & Flowers the Easy Way

1. Harvest Herbs - Harvest sprigs of herbs when the leaves are dry, keeping long stems. You can wash them if necessary, but make sure they are completely dry before bundling.

2. Create a Bundle - Put the sprigs in small bundles, gathering the stems together to create a good hanging point.

3. Tie with Twine - Tie twine around the bundled stems tightly, allowing the leaves to splay out. Pro-Tip: Don’t wrap the bundle up tightly. You need to allow airflow between the leaves to avoid mold issues.

4. Hang Upside Down - Hang the bundles upside down in a dry location out of direct sunlight.

I also like to use this method to dry certain spices and seeds, like fennel, for example. Fennel is better used as a fresh herb than a dried herb, but fennel seeds can be dried on the plant using this method, so you don’t lose the seeds on the ground.

Another reason I love drying herbs this way is that it helps act as natural pest control in my house! Pests like spiders, ants, and moths are all deterred by different herbs. So if you have a tendency to find little creepy crawlies coming into your home, drying herbs like this is a great natural and effective solution.

Spiders despise the smell of rosemary and ants and moths do not like thyme. When those herbs are drying in your house, it helps to keep them away.

How to Tell When Herbs Are Fully Dried

After two to three weeks, most herbs will be fully dried. Check that the moisture has dried from the leaves and stems by trying to bend them. If the leaves or stems bend instead of cracking and crunching, they are not fully dried and should be left hanging longer.

Storing Dried Herbs

Your dried herbs should break away from the stem easily. Store dried herbs in airtight containers. Try not to break or crush them when you put them in containers, as this increases their surface area and decreases their shelf life.

I hope you enjoyed learning how to dry herbs and maybe even learned something new today!