Dry basil: 4 ways to prepare aromatic spices

Drying basil at home is quite simple. And even economically, given the difference in price between independently grown or purchased in the summer greens and the finished dried product from the store. And this is a great reason to start harvesting this fragrant grass right now.

Basil preparation

Before starting to dry, basil must be properly prepared. This procedure consists of only three stages:

1. The washing up. Greens purchased at the market also need “water procedures”, as well as those gathered in their garden. Under the stream, particles of dirt adhering to the leaves and stems, small insects, as well as the main part of pathogenic microflora, are removed from the tap.
2. Pre-drying If you get rid of the drops that remain on the surface of the grass, the further process will go faster. It is easiest to do this by wetting the basil with a linen or paper towel and spreading it for a while on a surface that can absorb water (for example, on dry napkins or cloth).
3. Separation of leaves and stems. Throwing away the stems is not worth it, as they are also used in cooking. Nevertheless, given the fact that they are much harder and thicker than the leaves, in most cases they have to be dried separately.

By the way, you need to dry the basil leaves correctly - as a whole. If you cut them, almost all the essential oils will evaporate and the greens will lose the flavor for which they are valued and for which they are prepared for the winter.

Drying Methods

There are several ways to dry basil at home. All of them are distinguished by the duration and quality of the finished product.

Outdoors

This is the easiest way to dry basil at home. It does not require any devices, but this is its only advantage. The disadvantages are more than enough:

• Depending on the temperature and humidity, drying may take from several days to a week.
• Dust and dirt settle on the leaves, because they are not protected by anything. Then all these “additives” will be eaten, since it is not customary to wash dried herbs before adding them to the pan.
• During their stay in the open air, most of the essential oils evaporate from the grass, which negatively affects the aroma of the finished product.
• If the greenery is exposed to direct sunlight, it will lose its beautiful color.

Drying basil in this way can be either in bulk or in limbo. In the first case, it is recommended to separate the leaves from the stems, in the second it is better to leave everything as it is, since it is more convenient to collect greens in bunches and attach a rope to them.

Each of the options has its own characteristics:

• When drying in bulk, the leaves are placed on a light and clean cotton cloth or on white paper. It is not worth using newspapers and other printed matter - the grass can absorb the smell of printing ink. Several times a day, they poke their greens.
• If it was decided to dry the basil with bunches, they are placed at a sufficient distance from each other and from other objects. It is advisable to bind together no more than 7 stems - so the grass dries faster and better.

Grass is shaded during drying. It is good if the place where the basil is located is blown away by the wind - this speeds up the process. Indoor air movement can be created artificially by installing a fan.

In the oven

A common method for harvesting basil for the winter is drying in an oven.However, it should be remembered that for such a case, a temperature of 35 to 45 ° C is required, and in most ovens the minimum possible heating is 100 ° C. For this reason, many housewives are faced with failures, receiving at the exit overdried, sometimes burnt greens without a pronounced smell.

Leaves and petioles should be dried separately, at least on different baking sheets. It is desirable to line the metal surface with paper (both ordinary stationery and parchment for baking are suitable).

All the time the grass is in the oven, the door must be open - so moisture will come out. Periodically, basil is ted to avoid uneven evaporation of the juice. Drying lasts from 2 to 6 hours, depending on the number of leaves and other conditions.

In the microwave

This method has three advantages:

• Speed ​​- with a power of 750 watts, the whole process takes no more than 5 minutes.
• Aroma conservation - when using a microwave, more than 80% of essential oils are preserved in the leaves, so the smell of greenery does not change and does not weaken.
• Preservation of color - due to the rapid evaporation of moisture, chlorophyll (the substance responsible for the green color) and anthocyanins (purple dyes) do not have time to collapse. Thanks to this, dried basil looks exactly like fresh.

Before placing the basil in the microwave, it must be dried, leaving it on the table for the night. Then they spread it on a light refractory plate without any patterns, in the center of which they put a glass half and two-thirds full of water - it will absorb excess electromagnetic energy.

Drying should be done in several stages, each time setting the operating time of the microwave oven for 1 minute and mixing the leaves after a sound signal. So the greens will lose moisture evenly. As a rule, three microwave starts are enough.

What absolutely can not be done:

• lay out the leaves in a thin layer - they will dry out and firmly stick to the plate;
• to cover the basil with a lid - condensation accumulates on it and flows down, because of which the greens get wet, and it is not possible to obtain the desired result;
• leave petioles on the leaves - as practice shows, they ignite, which is extremely unsafe.

Remember - while drying the basil in the microwave, you need to control the process from start to finish. Leaving the device turned on without supervision is highly discouraged. Before you begin, you should read the instructions for your microwave oven.

In the electric dryer

In the presence of a special dryer, you can harvest greens in large quantities. To dry the basil, the temperature is adjusted to 35–45 ° С. The advantage of such a device over the oven is that the leaves do not need to be turned over: thanks to the presence of holes in the grates, the grass dries evenly. However, it is not worth it to abuse this and lay out the greens too thick.

The rest of the process is the same as in the oven. By the smell, the basil from the electric dryer and from the oven are no different. Time costs are also identical.

Completely dried greens, which easily crumble between your fingers, must immediately be collected and put into linen or paper bags. Glassware is also suitable for storage. But cellophane bags and plastic containers - this is the worst option out of all possible. If the basil was dried using temperature (for example, in the oven), you should wait until the leaves have cooled, and only then place them in an airtight container, otherwise they will grow moldy.