How to Harvest and Dry Your Own Herbs the Lazy Way

Few edible plants give you as much bang for your buck as herbs. They brighten up spring and summer when fresh and, with a very small investment of time and effort, can be dried for year-round enjoyment. As summer winds down and my herbs stop growing as vigorously, I harvest them all.

Dried herbs have a myriad of uses, from food seasoning to medicinal infusions to DIY aromatherapy, and small quantities go a long way. Herbs with woodier stems like sage, thyme, and rosemary dry up the best. Here’s how I go about it in the laziest possible way with no special equipment whatsoever:

Step 1: Harvest

Using clean snips, cut herbs back to their woody stems. The plants don’t always overwinter well in pots, so I take cuttings of the ones I want to grow again next year, and then clear them out. Keep the stems whole (don’t pluck off the leaves yet) for ease of washing and drying.

Step 2: Wash

Bathe herbs in a bowl of cool water, changing out the water at least twice. You want to get rid of all traces of dirt and tiny creatures.

Step 3: Leave out to dry

After their bath, lay the stems out to dry on a clean cloth. When they’re no longer damp to the touch, find a place for them to dry out completely. There are fancy herb-drying contraptions out there, but I just make messy, witchy little bouquets on a shelf in my kitchen. Leave them until they’re brittle to the touch, but not so long that they get dusty. A week should suffice.

Step 4: Store

When the herbs become so dry you can crumble them between your fingertips, do just that, especially for ones you want to sprinkle or make tea from. Discard the inedible stems. Find some very clean, very dry receptacles to store the herbs in. I hoard small glass jars so this was no trouble for me; you could also use Ziploc baggies.

Step 5: Label

I didn’t have any cute labels, just blue tape, but at least I cut it neatly like they do on The Bear.

And that’s it! Easy peasy.

Another cool thing about growing your own herbs is that you can choose varieties you might not find in a grocery store aisle. This year, along with standards like sage, lavender, and bay leaves, I’ve dried lemon thyme, spicy Greek oregano, strawberry mint, and yerba buena (Clinopodium douglasii), which makes a beautiful tea.

All these plants are easy to care for in pots, requiring minimal water and feeding. They graced my balcony all summer with their multisensory charms, and now I can keep enjoying them for months to come!