Drying Herbs

Seeing  all those fennel fronds last week reminded me that when you subscribe to a CSA a little knowledge of how to preserve things is useful.  Let's begin by talking about drying herbs.

Lots and lots of fennel fronds!

I may be going out on a limb here, but I would guess that almost no one was able to use all of the fennel fronds last week.  Fennel isn't like parsley.  With parsely you can just chop up a whole bunch and toss it into a pasta salad or tabouli.  But fennel has a strong flavor, and a little goes a long way.  And "little" is not how I would describe the amount we received in our delivery last week!  

But not to fear, all that fennel can be saved and used if dried, and so can any other herb that you find you are overwhelmed with.  It may seem charming and romantic to tie your herbs in bunches and "hang them" to dry, but this really isn't necessary and is just extra work.  I will use fennel as the example for a very simple herb drying technique, but this same technique can be used with any herb.

How to Dry Herbs

1.  Cut the fennel fronds (the wispy tops) from the very thickest stalks (there is no need to remove the leaves from the thin stalks, this will be done once dried).

2.  Rinse the fennel (or whatever herb you want to preserve by drying) and pat dry with towels.  

3. Lay the fennel on plates in a single layer.  I needed two plates to do this.

4. Lay a sheet of wax paper loosely over the plates to protect the fennel from dust.

5.  Place plates anywhere you have a little extra space - just not in the kitchen where they could pick up flavors and odors floating through the air.  If you place the herbs in a sunny window as I do, it will speed the drying, but it may also darken the herbs.  This is something that doesn't bother me, but if color is important to you then place in a dark room.

6.  Once dried, the fennel should be brittle and crumbly - and this may take many days.  Roll the stalks between your palms with a plate underneath to catch the leaves.  This will remove the herb "leaves" from the stem.  Place dried fennel into an airtight jar (save those spice jars) or ziploc bag until needed.  I don't crush or pulverize mine until ready to use.  That seems to preserve the flavor a bit better.

Now you have a nice little bag of dried herbs to use all winter long and they will be more flavorful than what you buy in the store.

The fennel fronds are drying on plates under wax paper.

When you are all done the fennel will
look like this.