Prepping for when the SHTF and a Good Meal!

Lemon balm drying in the oven.

I tried my hand and oven-drying some of my herbs today. I know it's pretty quick after planting, but that is the advantage of starting with some slightly larger plants.

Lemon balm, basil, and the mojito mint dried today. They have a bit more moisture in the leaves than some of my other herbs, so I didn't want to leave them to air dry. Also, lemon balm retains more of its flavor when dried quicker. I used this website as my primary reference: Garden Herbs. Almost all of them had virtually identical instructions.

Basil in the oven;
mojito mint on deck

I set my oven as low as it would go (170F) and made sure to prop the door open. My oven does have a door that stays about 6" open when broiling, but that was a bit more than I wanted, so I used a wooden spoon to keep the oven vented. Since I am only doing small batches for me, it only took about an hour to dry each herb.

I think they turned out quite well. They smell great and the color is good. Most ended up nice and dark green. Some of the larger lemon balm leaves turned a little brown, but the smaller leaves stayed nice and green.

The condo smells great now too!

Top to bottom:
Lemon Balm, Basil, Mojito Mint