herbs dried and stored

The herbs got dried this morning in the microwave - the whole place was fragrant, and it took no time at all. 

I really wanted to use the oven method since that seems more natural, somehow. The instructions said two to four hours on a low temp, less than 180 F with the door cracked open. After twenty minutes Tuesday night I had a coughing spell and decided to give up the idea. I didn't want bronchitis from breathing in that wonderful but strong aroma for two hours. That was the dill weed; so I just left it on the trays in the oven till my next day off, which was today.

After a day and a half sitting in there it was all dry, so I just put it in this jar!

The microwave instructions said between two sheets of paper toweling, for one to three minutes. I did several batches of the basil that way, eventually settling on a one minute, ten second time for each batch. There was some dampness remaining, so I just left the stuff on a tray on a shelf; when I came back to it, it was dry. That is also in jars now.

The basil seems far less aromatic now that it's dry, and I'm sorry I didn't use this method from Organic Gardening magazine. It advocates freezing fresh herbs in olive oil or butter for the utmost flavor preservation - you can simply break off pieces of it as required! If I get my hands on any more basil I'm going to try it  Still, I'm beginning to feel like a squirrel who's storing nuts for the winter.