Make a Hanging Herb Drying Rack

[xmas74]

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2012/01/make-an-herb-drying-rack/

This could be considered an arts and crafts project but I personally think that cooks and gardeners will get the most use out of it. It looks very easy and the price (if supplies were purchased at a local Dollar Tree) are well under $5.00. You could get a few of the supplies, such as the picture frame, the chain, and possibly the screen or cheesecloth, at a thrift shop for even cheaper.

Check it out. It's something I'll definitely think about this summer if there is a bumper crop.

[Lucinda]

1. I usually use mine fresh or dehydrate, but that it a very handy project!

And inexpensive too.

[xmas74]

4. That's why I posted it.

Very inexpensive and it's something that might be fun to do.

There are always fun projects on that site.

[Warpy]

2. I did it oldschool when I had a herb garden

I'd pull up the herbs just before the first freeze was predicted, tie the stems together and trim off most of the roots. Then I'd suspend them roots up on nails hammered into beams in my kitchen ceiling. It was very folksy and gave me the best herbs during the coming winter. Some herbs, like dill, needed to be put into loosely tied paper bags with slits cut into them so that air could circulate but the leaves would collect in the bottom.

If climate around here changes back to end the drought and I get to grow something besides the occasional tumbleweed, I'll probably make a frame and dowel rack, s-hooks over the dowels to hang the herb bundles on. And I'll most likely wall mount it.

[jwirr]

3. I dried a couple of mints this year and in the end I got to wondering about the dust the was

settling on them as they dried. Is this a problem and if so what do you do about it?

[NMDemDist2]

6. once the herbs dry, put them in glass jars n/t

[HopeHoops]

8. That works. Anything air-tight - but KEEP THEM DARK!

[Warpy]

9. I just blew it off. Most of it was fly ash from the wood stove and not a problem.

you can always put cheesecloth bags around them to catch things like cobwebs if you have spiders. I didn't.

[jwirr]

10. Thanks for the cheesecloth bag suggestion.

[xmas74]

5. I've done it that way before

but more with flowers.

This could be an easy and inexpensive idea, especially if a person needs to save a bit of space.

[HopeHoops]

7. My wife uses the chandelier in the dining room. I call it "Jumanji"

We also have a 12 tray dehydrator for herbs (and a 20 tray one for other things - too strong, blows the herbs everywhere).

When they're dry, we put them in zipper bags and store them in labeled opaque plastic tubs (US Made even - as are the dehydrators - not sure about the chandelier). Light degrades the quality of herbs.

We've also used a clothes drying rack. Whatever we hang them on (the catnip is on a piece of yarn strung between the molding on the kitchen doorway), we clip the stems with binder clips and use a paper clip to fasten the binder clip to the "rack". Always dry them tips down (well, except in a dehydrator).

On Edit: We have a 4'x16' boxed-in herb bed and more containers full of herbs than I can count. And that doesn't even include the ones that have escaped captivity.