This article outlines the process of preparing and drying natural herbs in your food dehydrator, whether it be from your herb garden, or the produce section at the grocery store. The savings in costs, over prices paid at the market for herbs, will more than pay for your dehydrator in a short time.

There would be little dispute in saying, that the Chefs of the world, whether they be moms and dads in the kitchen, or the culinary artists of fine dining restaurants, that using fresh herbs are the essence of great meals. Even though they add very little in the way of nutrition, they do add wonders to a meal. Most of us do not have a year around herb garden at our disposal, so the next best option is to capture the freshness, flavor, and aroma of those herbs in the best way, a food dehydrator.

Historically, native cultures dried herbs in the sun, later methods developed were bag drying, room drying, oven drying, and last, microwave drying. These methods do dry herbs but at the cost of loss of flavor, aroma, cleanliness, and safety.

Modern day food dehydrators not only do this more efficiently than other methods of drying, a much safer product is acquired than some of the herbs from over the counter that have been subjected to irradiation during the drying process.

More attention needs to be paid to drying herbs, over flowers. Your goal becomes to dry them not for beauty but for flavor and aroma. Temperatures, humidity, and time, become more critical so as not to lose the essence of the herb. Food dehydrators produce good airflow, temperature regulation with controllable thermostats, and some models with timers. The temperature range for herbs is 90 degrees F to 105 degrees F, while the time range is one to three hours. Do not dry natural herbs with meats, fruits, and veggies, but alone, those foods would add too much humidity to the process if combined in the food dehydrator. To check the completeness of the drying process, crush the herb, it should crumble like a very dry leaf in autumn, or just like the herbs that come out of those expensive small jars in the store.

Just a word about storage of natural herbs. Admittedly, I like to store herbs in clear jars in an open spice rack in the kitchen for visiting friends to see. This is find if you use those herbs up over a period of several months, any longer and color fading occurs. For long period storage, keep the herbs out of the light, in air tight jars, or use a vacuum sealer to compact them if space saving is desired.

In summary, producing your own natural herbs at home with a food dehydrator will become a process that will save money, enhance the meals you make, create a degree of satisfaction, and an abundance of friendly neighbors who will stop by often to borrow just a little spice.