Organic Herbs - Maximize Your Harvest

You started an organic herb garden - just a small one - but you got a bumper crop. What can you do with these useful plants?

Dry Organic Herbs

Organic herbs are easy to dry, even if you have a relatively humid environment.

* Harvest herbs early in the day when it is cool.
* Cut fairly long stems, using scissors or a sharp knife.
* Wash organic herbs carefully.
* Lay out on a clean towel to absorb excess moisture.
* Bundle together with ribbon.
* Hang your organic herbs out of the way in a relatively dry room.
* Do not hang them in direct sunlight, as they will lose color.
* When crinkly dry, put your organic herbs in jars.

If you dry organic herbs this way, they will last for about a year.

Freeze Organic Herbs

Herbs freeze very well, and will be fresh-tasting when used from the freezer. Harvest, wash, and dry your organic herbs as above. Do not remove leaves or flowers from the stems. Herbs are frozen best on the stem.

Place your clean organic herbs in freezer bags and label. They will be good for about 6 months. To use frozen herbs, remove the package and crumble off a few leaves. Then close the package and return it to the freezer.

Make Organic Herb Vinegar

Organic herb vinegars can be a wonderful addition to salads and cooked vegetables. As you learn to experiment with your organic herbs, you will find a variety of appealing flavor combinations.

You will need:

* Clean glass jar with a lid
* Fresh organic herbs - include the flowers for color and interest
* Vinegar - white vinegar works well, but finding organic white vinegar may be a challenge. Wine vinegars also are god. Although cider vinegar is the most common, its own strong flavor may overwhelm the delicate herb flavors.

Fresh organic herbs are the best for herb vinegars. Harvest and wash as above. Fill the jar with herbs. Add vinegar and cover. Set aside for several weeks to let the herbs cure. When you are ready, strain out the herbs. You may want to leave a few flowers for interest.

Organic Herb Oils

Organic herb oils are another delicious option for maximizing your herb harvest. Herbal oils are good for cooking, and delicious on salads. Some people enjoy dipping bread into organic herb oils. Organic herbal oils are also good as bath oils and skin moisturizers.

You will need:

* Clean glass jar with a lid
* Organic herbs - fresh or dried
* Extra virgin olive oil

To make organic herbal oil, fill a glass bottle about half full with oil. Add herbs, fill up with oil and cap.

Follow these storage directions carefully.

* REFRIGERATE ALL HERBAL OILS!
* Use oils made with fresh organic herbs within 2 weeks.
* Use oils made with fully dried organic herbs within 1 month

CAUTION: Organic herbal oils MUST be refrigerated. Storage time is reduced when fresh oils are used. Flavored oils are an ideal environment for bacterial growth.

Give Organic Herbal Gifts

Many people love herbs, and will enjoy herbal gifts when presented in a useable form. Dried herbs can be tied with a pretty ribbon and wrapped in cellophane as a gift. Florist cellophane is good. Frozen herbs can be placed in a freezer container rather than a bag, and labeled with a gift tag. Organic herbal vinegars and oils can be poured into pretty bottles, a ribbon tied around the neck. Give the bottle alone, or package it with a loaf of fresh bread, or a salad set. Your organic herbs can become unique gifts.