Homemade Seasonings 2010

It’s harvest time, for whatever there is to actually harvest this year. We’re enjoying salad from the garden, at least. One of the things I enjoy doing is drying the seasonings I want to use in the kitchen throughout the year, but it is a little bittersweet. Is it too much to ask that someone will buy my home and LOVE the herb garden I planted and tended? Perhaps. But I ask anyway. Here is how I dried my Greek oregano:

I trimmed my oregano plant as it was flowering. I didn’t want the flowers to go to seed, because I didn’t want it to spread anymore. It’s best to trim herbs and flowers at the beginning of the day rather than in a full hot sun (ha ha…like we have that!).

I stripped the leaves off the stalks. If you try this and it doesn’t strip easily, flip it around. There is definitely an easier way to do it.

I ended up with two large bowls of oregano leaves. And hands that smelled like oregano.

Some folks wash their herbal leaves and some don’t. I do. I spin it a bit at a time in the salad spinner. Then I put the leaves onto dehydrator trays and dried them at 125 degrees for about 12 hours or so. The leaves were crispy, not bendy.

I put the leaves into a big bowl and just crumbled it all more with my hands. It made a decent amount, and now it’s all ready for spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, meatloaf….

I also pulled the garlic I planted last fall. The bulbs were beautiful! Last fall I decided to plant just hardneck garlic for drying to powder, rather than any softnecks for storage. I just didn’t have the room to do both, and I use the powder for just about every garlic need I have anyway. Did you know that the powdered garlic from the store is mostly from China? Yikes! Besides, making it fresh is amazingly better!

I’m contemplating planting garlic this fall. Would the new owner know what those stalks coming from the ground are and what to do with them? Then again, with this market, it could be me pulling up garlic this time next year. Hmm..

In any case, I was very, very pleased. I set them in a shady spot in the barn to cure, which will take about a month or so. Then I will powder them.

May your garden be fruitful!