Putting Food Up

[lovenlife]

Anyone give me their thoughts on how they dry herbs and store them. Greens as well?

I am into massive food storage right now. I dry the herbs in the sun or dehy and I was wondering how do you do it? Do you dry the whole thing and then take stems out after?

I have been thinking to put them in a bag and massge them to seperate the stems.

Greens I am drying to make powder. How do you all make powder,blend or mash?

I dont like freezing and have not much freezer room.

Thank you so much in advance for your ideas!

[DebB]

Hi ~ I haven't done it a lot, but I've dried herbs in my dehydrator. Then I sort of smoosh them with my fingers and keep for future use. I've done basil, dill, and a few others.

This is the first year I'll have greens to put up. I have the freezer room and I plan on freezing them with stems for use in my green smoothies. I think I read somewhere that once the leaves are frozen, you can actually crunch them down into bits - they'd take up little freezer space then. I don't know how that will work - I'll be experimenting with that later this year. I have a lot of kale and chard.

I deh. tomatoes for making marinara sauces and breads. *Ü*

[lovenlife]

Thank you DebB.....I appreciate that. I may freeze some greens too then. I am doing well so far. I put them in a bag thismorhing (the herbs) and began mashing them up and it went well. I picked out the stems.

Greens I dried the kale until crispy...then crunched it all up to little flakes. figure I can rehydrate in winter and blend for juice!

We have over a hundred kale plants! Busy Busy!

[DebB]

We have over a hundred kale plants! Busy Busy!

WHAT??? :eek: :eek:

WOW!! We've got maybe 5 plants - hahaha! Over a hundred - - ((trying to wrap my mind around this))

Yes! I bet you ARE busy! I'm soooo impressed!

Here's something (http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-freeze-fresh-herbs-rosemary-and.html)you might be interested in, this is where I first learned about freezing herbs - it's a beautiful blog that I used to subscribe to back when I was a low carber. That link is just for a couple herbs, but she's got more info on other herbs too - she does a wonderful job on her blog with photos, etc. *Ü*

((wow - a hundred kale plants . . . )) :D :D

[lovenlife]

Thankx I will look at that!

Yes over a hundred! We have two kinds.I have been eating, now I am looking to store up for winter. It is in full force right now due to the cooler weather!

Collards galore too!

I am putting the herbs in bags and pounding them..awwww and they let go of the stems, then I remove the stems. Voila!

[RawKnitster]

I recently got to go into the herb lab at Bastyr University and see how they do it. Dry flowers (I do calendula, bee balm, and red clover) in the dehydrator at 95 degrees for 40 hours. Everything with leaves gets bundled, 6-8 stalks per bundle. I leave extra string to wrap around again and tighten as the stalks drys. Hang bundles upside down in a warm, dry, shady place. I hang them in my carport during the hot weather and in the basement when weather is cooler. When stalks are completely dry wear gloves to strip the leaves off the stalks. Crumble and store in clean mason jars, or freezer bags. Be sure to label and date.

In addition to calendula, bee balm, red clover, I have nettle, lemon balm, mint, and stevia. Enough to make tea all winter.

I haven't dried any greens, don't have enough!