I have a nice basil plant. How do I dry the leaves for use this winter?

Pat Akin

There are a lot of ways to do this. The simplest way to dry them is to hang them upside-down somewhere. It's a little slow, though.

If you want a quicker way, there's a cheap solution that involves a box fan and a couple of accordion (or "pleated") furnace filters (new, of course). Rest your herbs in the valleys of the accordion. Stack up to five of these filters on top of each other with herbs in each, then strap them to the box fan and let her run. To strap them I would just use some bungie cords (the kind you can get 20 for $3.00 at Target).

It will take about 2 hours to dry most herbs this way. Seeds will take a little longer and it's sometimes hard to do with the wrong seeding plant, but it's possible.

I got this idea from the cooking show "Good Eats", by the way.

Oh, here is a picture of a pleated air filter. It's not the greatest picture, but it'll work. This is kind of an expensive air filter, though. Use the cheapest you can find.

Besides drying your basil, you can do a few other things. (Because of basil's moisture content it is harder to dry then other herbs).

1. Take the leaves and place them in a ziploc bag in the freezer. When you use them, they will crumble nicely in your hand.
2. Layer the leaves with E.V. olive oil in a glass jar in your refrigerator. Layer them flat and tightly; you can get a lot in the jar. If you wash them first, make sure they are thoroughly dry before starting. As you take them out of the jar, the upper ones may blacken a little if you don't get them fully emersed back in oil, just discard these top leaves the next time if this happens. A grandmother of a friend who grew up in Italy told me this one and it lasts nicely through the winter until you get fresh basil again the next summer.
3. Puree the leaves with olive oil in a food processor, or finely chop or tear and mix with olive oil. Place in ice cube trays. Once frozen, remove from trays and store in a ziploc bag in the freezer.

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