Herbs

Last fall I experimented with drying some herbs. I did Parsley, Oregano, Cilantro and Basil. It was easy and quite inexpensive. My conclusions were that parsley is pretty inexpensive to buy dried or otherwise, but if you have parsley growing, by all means dry it. I use a lot of basil and oregano so I liked having those dried and Cilantro was a new one to me. I had never used it much but wanted to start.

I have two recipes that use cilantro, so far. I use it in White Chicken Chili and this week for the first time I made the knockoff Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Burritos/Salad. I thought I had plenty of fresh Cilantro but after coaching from my daughter to use plenty, I realized I was going to have to use some of the dried Cilantro. It was awesome. The whole meal still makes me almost drool just thinking of how good it tasted. I will definitely dry some more cilantro for days like this when, living miles from a store which stocks fresh cilantro, I just gotta have it!

Herbs are very easy to dry. Just line your dehydrator trays with nylon netting and spread the washed and dryed herbs in a single layer. Dry till crumbly and store in airtight containers. These make a great addition to your food storage. I don't care for Rosemary but if you do, give it a try. It dries well also. My goal is to someday grow an abundance of fresh herbs in the summer and dry them for use in the long winter months.