I cut bunches of herbs, take them inside and lay them in a single layer between two sheets of paper towels.  Then I carefully lift the sheets into the microwave oven and turn it on for 30 seconds.

I check the process and keep doing this in 30 second batches until the herbs begin to feel crackly. This means they are dry.  I crumble the dried herbs in my hands and pour them into a clean dry jar with a tight fitting lid.

The best time of the year to harvest your herbs is the autumn when there is plenty of growth. Herbs that work well include rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram.

You can also try chives, mint and parsley.  Let us know how this process works for other herbs.  Or you may have a different process that works for you.  We’d love to hear about that too.

What you use and how much you use depends on your own tastes.  You can play around a bit and you really can’t go far wrong.

You will need a greater amount of fresh herbs than dried herbs.  The drying process enhances the flavour of the herbs.

Dried herbs lose that enhanced flavour over time though.

You need to keep them in an airtight container and be prepared to throw them out when the intense flavour has gone.

The other major use of herbs is as a garnish for dishes.  The intenseness of the colour greatly enhances the appearance of even the plainest plate.

You can either chop the herbs up and sprinkle over the food, or you can simply add a sprig of basil to a tomato based dish, or parsley to almost anything.

Photo of sage (grey) and rosemary

Photo of basil