Drying Rosemary

Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs. I think it's so versatile. I love roasting chicken, potatoes and other root vegetables with it or floating a sprig in a batch of tomato sauce, giving it that extra depth of flavor. In the summer it's no problem when the herb is abundant and this winter with any luck I'll have a bounty of dried rosemary to cook with. I've never dried herbs before. After doing a bit of reading, I cobbled together this approach.

1. Snip rosemary. After cutting the rosemary into manageable sprigs (think brown paper bag sized), wash and thoroughly dry them. I use a salad spinner to spin off excess water then air dried them. I think even slightly wet, the rosemary will get moldy.





2. Tie them up. Take about three or four sprigs of the rosemary and tie them at the base. I used a rubber band.



3. Punch holes into brown paper bags. Putting the rosemary in paper bags will help keep them clean and the holes provide sufficient air to dry them. I hope. I used a pencil to punch the holes, but in hindsight a holepucher would work wonders. Make as many bags as you have rosemary bunches for.



4. Hang 'em up. Take the bunches of rosemary and place them in their own bags and tie the ends once again. I used rubberbands again. Leave some slack because you'll want to hang them someplace to dry. I put mine in the pantry.



I'm not sure how long to leave them drying, but I'll give it a few weeks and report back with the results.