How to Preserve Herbs for Fall & Winter

One of my goals for the garden this year has been to preserve as much of my harvest as I can. That includes finding different ways to preserve the herbs we have growing out in the garden! Herbs like basil and tarragon die off with the cold, so those are definitely a priority at the moment. But, we also have herbs like thyme and rosemary that grow year-round in the garden and I just want to make things a little easier on my future self and preserve some to build up our spice cabinet! Here is how I am preserving the herbs in our garden for Fall and Winter cooking.

Dehydrating/Drying

Earlier this year, I picked up a food dehydrator over on Amazon. I really wanted to up my preservation game, and dehydrating is a great place to start. Now, you don’t need a dehydrator to dry your herbs, but it sure streamlines and makes the process faster.

The ideal dehydrating temp for herbs ranges from 95°F to 115°F. When I did oregano earlier in the Summer, it took 12 hours at 100°F so ideally I would up the temp, so it won’t take as long. It’s important to rinse any dirt or little bugs off your herbs and make sure they are dry (I know it seems redundant, but it will make the drying time longer) before putting them in a single layer on each tray of your dehydrator. During the drying time, be sure to check on your herbs to ensure even drying and feel free to rearrange the trays if something seems to be drying slower than others.

Here is a quick reference guide on drying times for certain herbs. Please note that times may vary depending on your model of dehydrator, temperature settings, and level of humidity.

Here are a few extra tips:

Harvest herbs in the morning after the dew has evaporated but before the sun is too hot
Remove any damaged or discolored leaves
Store herbs in an airtight container out of direct sunlight
Dried herbs are best used within 1 year

For drying without a dehydrator, you’ll want to tie small bunches with some twine or string. Then, hang the bunches in a cool, dry, and dark room. If you don’t have a dark room, you can wrap them in newspaper. It can take a few weeks for hanging herbs to dry completely but check on them once a week until dry. Ideal herbs for hanging are varieties that you “harvest from the stem” like rosemary, thyme, oregano, cilantro, sage, and parsley.

Infused Oil

Homemade flavored cooking oil could not be easier to do. As I mentioned in my post on how to use fresh herbs from your garden, it’s important to follow a trusted recipe to ensure you process and store the oil safely. There are several different ways of infusing but it sounds like the quickest and safest way is through the heat infusion. Here are a few tips from various recipes that I have used:

Make sure your desired storage containers and lids, and utensils are sanitized. You can do this by placing them in boiling water for 10 minutes or running a dishwasher cycle on the highest heat setting.
Once sanitized, make sure your equipment and storage containers have dried completely before adding your oil.
Make sure your oil has cooled completely before adding to your sanitized container. Use a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth to strain out the solid bits of herb from your oil. If you have solid bits of herb in your oil, it will greatly reduce its shelf life.
Store in an airtight container, out of direct sunlight (preferably in the refrigerator).
Use within 4 weeks of making the oil. Not only will this ensure you can use it at peak flavor and freshness, but this also ensures maximum safety when consuming the oil since it doesn’t have the commercial preservatives that store-bought oil has.

Freezing

Direct freezing – Direct freezing is basically just adding your herbs directly to a freezer bag and throwing them in the freezer. I have gotten copious amounts of basil this year, and to save some for making gazpacho and tomato soup, I have frozen a small amount to use later. You could also do this with the woody herbs like rosemary and thyme to throw into Fall and Winter recipes, or even your homemade vegetable or meat stock.

Freezing in oil cubes – This is a new method for me, but I am loving it already! All I did was purchase some silicone ice cube trays from Amazon. I then chopped up my herbs (I used basil in this batch) and added them to each cell of the ice cube tray. Then I topped them off with olive oil and put them in the freezer until solid. Once frozen, I took the herby oil cubes out of the trays and put them in a freezer bag, and then back into the freezer to use in the seasons ahead for cooking!

How to Preserve Herbs for Fall & Winter