Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Drying Herbs

Yesterday I cut some of the rampant herbs in my garden down a bit and have decided to dry these to make a tea mix. The three herbs I cut were Peppermint, Lemon Balm and Feverfew (I am not sure if this is the proper name but it has been called this in my house as long as I can remember) 

After cutting these I have laid them out to dry in the garden.  Suspending a BBQ grating between two of our kitchen chairs (arent they gorgeous, they came from my parents house and are in need of a little tlc but they do brighten up the room a lot. Im thinking of stripping them and then repainting in Aqua or a colour like that... anyways back on topic ) 

Suspending them in this way allows the air to circulate around them and the heat of the day should help them to dry out.



On the left if Lemon Balm and the right is Peppermint. The Feverfew is in flower and being dried in the understairs cupboard as it can be hung upside down here to keep more of the flower shape.



To stop the leaves getting scorched and more importantly to stop them blowing away I covered the contraption with a second hand (thrifted) vintage table cloth that I happen to have waiting to be upcycled into something new, maybe. 

Also today I have started on another dress for me in the most gorgeous Jade colour :D I probably need to get some house work done but for the moment that can wait...

4 comments:

  1. Would be interested to know how the lemon balm tastes as a tea. I've got loads of it in a pot but haven't used it for anything and was considering offing it into the compost heap and reusing the pot for something else.

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  2. Hi, thanks for commenting on my blog! I love my lemonbalm just for the smell but I am thinking it would be nice to put in homemade lemonade or mojitos...or else to put in the oven with some roasting chicken? Hmmm! I love your blog, I am into sewing but I'm not nearly as good as you! Randomly I went to Southampton uni too! I graduated in 05, I miss it!
    Rach

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  3. Hehe cool Rachel, I started here 06 so 5 years later and I'm finally graduating... Results are out on Friday - so scared! :p

    I will definitely have to try some of those ideas.

    I made tea with it the other day and it was much better than I was expecting.
    I used two leaves of Peppermint and half/one leaf of Lemon Balm and a teaspoonful of sugar as I find this necessary with all herbal teas.

    It was nice and refreshing, had all the good qualities of Peppermint tea with an added kick.

    Just have to see how it tastes with more Lemon Balm in it...

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  4. I am going to try the tea thing - great idea.

    Hope the results were all good!

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