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| Fresh basil, ready to air dry for use later this Fall and Winter |
Returning home after being gone a week, I saw my garden was suffering a bit from lack of care... mostly, lack of rain! But my basil? Happy and proud... and full! Time to gather some and put it up to dry.
I've posted about drying basil before - because I do it many different ways. The previous post was chopping it and letting it air dry before bottling it. This is another way you can dry it... whole.
Rinse (to remove any dirt, small bugs or hidden little spiders). Grab some twine or string, and string it in bunches. Tie it tight on the stems, and make a loop to hang on a nail or however you plan to hang yours. Now hang it in a place where it gets plenty of circulating air, but no moisture or heat from appliances or cooking. It will wilt, and slowly start to dry. After a couple weeks (up to a month depending on where you live and the time of year) you can either put it into a baggy whole, or pull the leaves off and crunch them up to store in a baggy or bottle.
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| Simply tie bunches together to hang upside to air dry |
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| Ready to hang in my large, open pantry. |
