Re: Herbs, Herbs, Herbs :+)

This year is the first year I grew herbs, too, and now they're getting ready to do something with them. This past weekend I dehydrated cilantro as well as flat-leafed and curly-leafed parsley. I washed it all Saturday and left them in drainers (I used the dishwasher drainers!) to drip dry all day & nite Saturday. Sunday, I dehydrated all the parsley, first, at 100 deg F (in an American Harvest Garden Master Dehydrator), using the plastic mesh trays you can put over the main trays when doing smaller things such as herbs. It took a little over 4 hours to dry 10 trays of parsley (I left the parsley on the small stems, and I also dried one tray of bigger stems cut into 2 - 3 inch pieces (I thought I could use them in soups and stews). I then did the cilantro top leaves and flowers (I threw most of the branches and lower leaves out, leaving the leaves and flowers on very little of the branches) at the same temperature, for approx. 3 hours. I then put everything into their own labelled ziplock bags, and froze.

I am not sure what I'll use the cilantro for (like Herbs 2 Much, it seemed like a good idea at the time! I didn't realize how big that plant actually gets! I am secretly hoping it is not a perennial!)

I have some oregano and basil that will need tending to in the near future. Those, I know what I can use them for!!!

I use Mary Bell's Dehydrator book a lot -- of all the books I have seen, this was the one I was most impressed with, and bought! I haven't regretted it once. Before I bought that book, I never realized what could be dehydrated!!! It is worth every penny and then some.