Ask Burton?

Q: I grew an herb garden last year and it was wonderful! I dried several different herbs from my garden last fall to carry me through to the spring, and most stored well for me – but my basil leaves started to mold halfway through the winter. How do I make that not happen?

A: Basil has a higher moisture content than most of the herbs we generally use on a regular basis in the kitchen, and it does need thorough drying. Many herbs (like rosemary or oregano) can be effectively dried by tying four to six stems together and hanging those stems upside down in a dry location, but basil would like a little more help.

Suggestions:

• Dip whole basil stems in near-boiling water for a few seconds, then put them straight to an ice water bath for thirty seconds. Pat them dry, and then hang them for drying. This can cut down on external mold spores that can cause you problems later. Be careful doing this – you want to briefly scald the outside, not cook the basil!
• Forced air dehydration dries basil quicker and more thoroughly than air drying. It can take basil a week to dry effectively by hanging, and that’s enough time for mold to start. Either use a quality forced air dehydrator on a low temperature setting for about eighteen hours, or stack air conditioning filters in layers on top of a box fan for that length of time.
• Freezing basil is perfectly valid! Chop basil finely and mix with olive oil, then drop the mixture into ice trays. This method works well for sauces or stews.
• Store dried basil leaves in brown glass bottles or ziplock sealed bags out of the sunshine and add a silica gel drying packet to each container. These packets are usually available in packs of fifty for under ten dollars, and a packet dropped into a sealed bag or bottle of dried herb leaves will keep residual moisture in the herb leaves from being a problem.