Drying herbs

[Carole B.]

When you've dried your herbs the ideal containers are Marmite jars,they keep the contents in the dark and help to preserve the colour.

[Jude]

Oh booger,
Have just put SIX in the bottle bank

[taralastair]

What is the best way to dry lavender? I dried a lot last year, but it never really retained much of it's scent. I also tried blanching it briefly before drying, as that is what I do with my other herbs, but it didn't make much of a difference. Any advice on how to get the best of the lovely fragrance?

Tara

[Carole B.]

I think you have to get lavender just as the flowers are opening and it's allways so tempting to leave it in the garden! Then it's the usual tying up in the dark.

[Johnboy]

Hi Tara and Carole,
My mother used dry Lavender heads by simply keeping them in the kitchen in a massive china bowl and she used to put her hands in and keep turning them several times a day until they were dry. This way, it appears, that the scent stays in the flower 'cos she later sewed them into sachets of Muslin and used them in the linen cupboard and clothes drawers and we always smelt of Lavender in the house. This was during the late 1930's and 40's when artifical things were not yet around.