Have you ever tried cooking food that has rosemary in it? If you have, then you would know just how fragrant they can be when you use them. When you have rosemary on your roast chicken or garlic potatoes, it’ll feel as if the dish makes sense. That’s the magic of rosemary. It turns your dishes appealing both in smell and in taste.
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However, rosemary is a hot-weather herb. This means that it loves warm weather and it thrives during summer. So when the cold weather arrives, it’s best to gather up your rosemary and dry them. You will want to have your stock, so you can use rosemary in any season.
Regardless of the climate though, having dried rosemary stored in your kitchen cupboard to use anytime is very convenient. We’ve compiled 5 simple ways on how to dry rosemary, so you’ll be able to reach for it whenever you feel like having it on your food. These 5 simple tips are going to be easy, do not require any fancy technique, and can be done in your own home.
5 Tips On How To Dry Rosemary
If you’re wondering what to do with rosemary after buying a whole bunch of them or if you just harvested a lot, you may dry them to keep for a long time. Here are 5 methods how:
1. Hang Them To Dry
One way of drying rosemary is to simply hang them.
- Step 1: As soon as you’ve harvested the sprigs, wash them thoroughly. Bugs and spiders like to stay around these plants. You may also find cobwebs in between the leaves. So make sure you give it a thorough rinse.
- Step 2: Pat them dry with a towel. You can lay it out on a towel under the sun for a while. Be sure to scatter the rosemary sprigs a bit so they have room for air to move in between them.
- Step 3: Bring your rosemary inside your house where you can tie them all up together by the stem. You can use a rubber band or twine. Find a nice place in your kitchen that’s well-ventilated. This is where you can hang them to dry.
- Step 4: Leave it to dry for 2 weeks or just check on them from time to time. If the sprigs become hard and brittle, you may take the leaves off of the stem and store them.
If you’re planning to have this dried outside, you can wrap a paper bag loosely around your bundled up rosemary sprigs to keep the pests and dust away.
2. Remove The Rosemary From The Stem
Another way of drying rosemary sprigs is to remove the leaves from the stem and set it out to dry.
- Step 1: Wash your harvested rosemary sprigs.
- Step 2: Remove the leaves from the stem. Hold the top of the sprig in one hand and pull all of the leaves off in a downward motion with your other hand. Set a plate underneath to catch the rosemary leaves that might fall.
- Step 3: Put the plate outside the sun to keep the rosemary leaves dry. It is ready for storage once it gets brittle.
3. Pop It In The Oven
You can still dry rosemary if you’re in a hurry. Ever wondered how to dry rosemary in the oven? Here’s how:
- Step 1: Wash your rosemary thoroughly.
- Step 2: Do the steps on how to remove rosemary from its stem. You may also leave the stem on if you’d like. Either way, they’ll still be evenly dried out. But some people opt to remove the leaves already.
- Step 3: Line some parchment paper on to a baking pan and place your leaves or sprigs on the sheet. Scatter them apart from each other, so they have room for warm air.
- Step 4: Put the pan in the oven. Set your oven to the lowest warm setting possible so your rosemary can be dried properly without it getting burnt. Set it for 2-4 hours but check on them once in a while.
- Step 5: When the rosemary gets all brittle, you may now store them.
4. Use A Food Dehydrator
Using a food dehydrator does the trick of drying your rosemary too.
- Step 1: Do the steps mentioned above for putting your rosemary inside the oven. But instead of the oven, put it inside a food dehydrator.
- Step 2: Dry the rosemary in the lowest setting on the dehydrator (95°F - 115°F). It takes around 1 to 4 hours to completely dry them.
- Step 3: Check on your rosemary often. When the leaves start falling from its stem or it looks dry enough, you may take it out and store them.
5. Follow The Microwave Method
Putting them inside the microwave is probably the fastest way on how to dry rosemary.
- Step 1: Wash and pat your rosemary dry.
- Step 2: Remove the leaves from the stem and put them on a microwavable plate lined with a paper towel. Cover the rosemary leaves with another paper towel on top and put it in the microwave.
- Step 3: Heat the rosemary for 30 seconds in high power.
- Step 4: Once you’re done, remove the rosemary and let it cool down for another 30 seconds. Check if they seem brittle and dry. Some of the rosemary leaves will be dry so you can take those out. The ones that aren’t dry need another round of heat in the microwave. So pop that in and do step 3 all over again until all leaves are dried.
There you have it. These are 5 simple ways on how to dry rosemary without any extravagant or expensive method.
Now that you have your dried up rosemary, it’s time to finally store them properly.
How To Store Rosemary
It would be nice to have fresh rosemary all year round. But since this herb doesn’t last through the cold, it’s best to dry them up and store them.
- Airtight Containers – Put all of your dried rosemary leaves in an airtight container and store them in room temperature in your kitchen cupboard.
- Sealed Glass Jars – Your dried rosemary leaves would look pretty in glass jars next to your spice rack. Make sure to keep it sealed.
- Resealable Bags – If you still have fresh rosemary, you may place them inside a resealable bag and put them inside the refrigerator. Can you freeze rosemary? You may! It is best to freeze them if you want to keep them around longer.
How To Use Dried Rosemary
- Chicken, Pork, Lamb and Steak – Rosemary removes the gamey taste and smell of meats and turns them more aromatic. It’s commonly used in roasting and grilling methods.
- Potatoes – You can use rosemary to season baked potatoes or french fries.
- Spreads – Sprinkle your dried rosemary into butter or yogurt to turn into spreads. You can use the rosemary yogurt for sandwiches. As for the butter, you can use it while cooking steak.
- Vegetables – Don’t let grilled vegetables taste bland. Season them with dried rosemary to make them exciting on the taste buds.
- Seafood – Turn fish and shrimp dishes vibrant in smell and taste by sprinkling dried rosemary on top of them while cooking.
- Bread – Bake savory focaccia by sprinkling rosemary on top or by mixing it with the dough.
If you haven’t tried cooking with rosemary before, now is the time to do so. You can cook up so many recipes with this kind of herb. Not only will your dishes smell delicious but they’ll also smell very fragrant with rosemary.
The next time you’re wondering how to dry rosemary, check this guide for tips and let us know how they worked out for you.
