How to dry basil at home

No kitchen can do without fragrant spices to dishes and preparations. All year round to have fresh greens on hand is not available to everyone. Someone grows herbs not on the windowsill, but the main way to provide yourself with spices for the winter is to dry the plants.

Basil is one of the favorite fragrant herbs on our table. It has a unique ethereal aroma, and we add savory notes to dishes. At the same time, due to its structure, it does not lose its flavor and aromatic properties, depending on the processing. That is why the hosts and hostesses with pleasure add dried basil to sauces, to meat, to salads and pickles. And to get really high-quality seasoning, dried basil at home, without relying on the packaged spicy powder.

Which basil is better to dry

There are several varieties of basil.Visually, green and blue varieties can be distinguished. Dark basil is more fragrant and retains its flavor for a long time. However, experienced owners recommend to mix different leaves to complete the aromatic mixture. You can dry several varieties to have different seasonings - more subtle and spicier in flavor, or you can make a rich, fragrant mixture.

On the question of when to collect basil for drying for the winter there is no definite answer. Some gardeners recommend the moment before flowering, others - the actual flowering period. Usually it is during the period of formation of flowers in the stems that more essential oil is accumulated, which provides a fragrant spicy aroma. On the other hand, the taste should not become heavy and lose its juicy notes of “green”.

Those who try to dry basil for the first time are recommended to collect some of the leaves for drying before the flowers appear, and some during the time to determine for their own taste which flavor they like best in order to use this method in the future.

Note! For drying, they use not only the leaves, released by cuttings, but also the hard stems themselves.

Useful advice: sprigs of basil can be used to create thicker spicy compositions - pickles, pickles, aromatization of vegetable oils. It is they who will give a "smoky" pointed flavor. The leaves of dried basil are used in dinner cooking - for dishes from meat, fish and vegetables.

How can basil be dried at home?

For effective drying of aromatic herbs, you can use several methods: natural air drying, which is sometimes carried out even in bunches, harvesting greens in the oven, using an electric dryer, as well as in a microwave.

Even thermal drying requires patience - the procedure will take several hours, and with the natural method several days.

General rules: how to dry basil at home

1. To get fragrant and tasty seasoning, which will retain its freshness for a long time, you need to choose the right approach to the process of preparing spices and follow some laws.
2. First of all, the sprigs of the plants must be washed before they are dried. Rinse the grass in a bowl of warm water, changing it at least once, or under running water in a colander, carefully turning the branches.Next, the leaves pinch off the stems and promakuyut paper towels to remove residual water. Especially carefully it is necessary to absorb drops when the type of drying is passive - in air. Excessive moisture can cause seasoning.
3. Dry the leaves whole - so they will last longer useful substances and aromatic properties. Dry sheets are ground into powder directly when added to dishes. This will need to be taken into account when choosing a storage method for dried leaves. But the stems can be cut into small cubes - 3-4 centimeters, otherwise they can not dry out even in the oven.
4. If you choose the method of drying at room temperature, then the leaves are laid out in a thin layer on gauze or paper bedding in a ventilated room. Periodically, they need to stir and agitate, so that they do not crumble and dry on all sides.
5. For processing with warm air, the oven or electric dryer is heated to 40 degrees. Thanks to this gentle treatment, vitamins and other beneficial compounds are preserved in the grass. The leaves are spread on a sheet or grid evenly and stirred every 30-60 minutes.The oven door does not close tightly, leaving room for air circulation. This method can take about 8-10 hours. The condition of the leaves should be monitored, the exact time will depend on many factors: the thickness and size of the leaf, the content of oils in greens and other.
6. When using a microwave, the greens are treated at the maximum mode for a few minutes, the readiness is checked, and then one or several cautious additional “runs” are made, watching the condition of the sheet. This method is much faster, but many owners seem unnatural and unpredictable. Dry the basil in the microwave in small portions. This will ensure greater efficiency of the process, and help avoid damage to the entire party, if something does not work out.

In any method, basil will be ready when fully dried to a state in which it can be crushed into dust. Leaves or twigs should not be flexible and resilient.

How to store dried grass

So that basil will not lose its flavor after a couple of months, it is preferable to store it in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. It is advisable not to crush dry leaves prematurely and avoid exposure to sunlight and moist air.Periodically check your seasonings, whether moisture has got into them in order to avoid the development of mold and not to throw out a useful product.

Add dried basil to your favorite dishes. A pinch of spiced powder is enough to give the food a pleasant noble aftertaste.

Video: how to dry basil for the winter