Rosemary is an herb that is used so often in our home we decided to plant some. Now we can have fresh or dried rosemary whenever our hearts desire. I have to add, you may feel like the rosemary you get in the store is fresh, but until you grow it at home – you do not really know what fresh is.
The scents and flavors from homegrown rosemary is nothing a store can replicate. Farmers markets might have an equal counterpart, but I have never seen it even close in a major supermarket.
Rosemary is an evergreen that is in the mint family. If you have a healthy bush, you can harvest it year round. Fresh rosemary is great, but you might want dried for other reasons like putting it in stews or mixes.
The herb not only tastes good in culinary dishes such as rosemary chicken and lamb, but it is also a good source of iron, calcium, and vitamin B6. It’s not just for food though! It is also great for perfumes, air fresheners, infusing and just being so darn pretty hanging up in the living room!
So let’s get started on what it takes to dry our your fresh rosemary.
rosemary dehydration tools
The following are the tools I personally use to dehydrate rosemary.
- Dehydrator. I use both the Excalibur and the Nesco FD-80. Both are great dehydrators on either end of the budget spectrum.
- Vacuum sealer. I’ve used the Seal-a-Meal and this FoodSaver with the regular and wide mouth attachments.
- Canning jars. Any clean jar with a close fitting lid will work, you can even recycle old spaghetti jars if you are looking at storing just for a few months. Just make sure they are really clean and really dry and store them in the dark.
- Oxygen absorbers. These food ready oxygen absorbers will help lengthen the time you can store your food for.
- Zip top bags. Use these only for really short-term storage.
How to Dehydrate Rosemary
- Start by thoroughly washing all rosemary sprigs. You can either soak it in a vinegar wash bath or simply rinse off in a powerful stream of water. Rosemary sprigs can collect a lot of dirt along the stems and leaves because it is so hardy. You may need to be a bit rough with it to get it clean.
- Shake off sprigs and lay rosemary on towels to allow to dry in a single layer. Leave space around sprigs so they can air dry easily. The drier you can get them, the faster they will dry. I let mine sit for a couple of hours.
- Once rosemary seems dry lay sprigs on dehydrator trays. If needed, cut to fit your dehydrator tray.
- Dehydrate for approximately 6-8 hours at 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Time may vary based on your machine, moisture in your home, and moisture level of sprigs.
Once dehydrated remove from the machine. Below I share what I do from here.
There are a few things you can do with the dried rosemary at this point, but I’m going to show the way I found that seems to make the least mess.
Gather sprigs together like shown below and twist them back and forth a few times.
When you are done you should have something that looks like the below. You can see the sprig stalks are naked and the leaves are on the table.
Go through what is on the table and pick out any little stems that may have come off. I marked the image below with red arrows to help you identify them.
At this point you can go ahead and store your rosemary as it is or if you are like me, you may want to grind it up a bit to make it more powder like.
I keep a small tin of dried rosemary leaves like shown below. These I use in some types of recipes. But for the most part I prefer a finer consistency.
To get a finer dried rosemary I use a grinder. It will take the leaves above and turn it into what you see below. This is my go to for most recipes that need rosemary. It gives all the amazing flavors without the need to bite into a chunk.
I store my immediate use of kitchen herbs and spices in tin magnetic storage containers that then go on the side of my refrigerator.
For longer term storage I use canning jars with an oxygen absorber. They stay stored in my cabinet, away from any sunlight.
Because we grow quite a bit of rosemary, I just dehydrate what we grow to be used for the following year. I do not grind it until I know I will need it. And any spices I store I try to store in whole spice form, instead of powdered spice form. They store better, longer, and are more flavorful when ground right before use than stored forever in ground form.
How to Air Dry Rosemary
An alternative way to dry rosemary, or any herb, is to air dry it. Remove some of the rosemary leaves from the end of your sprigs.
Bundle sprigs in groups of 3-4. Try to vary the size of sprig in each bundle so that they get good airflow through the bundle. I’m using a jute string tied into a slipknot, then tied off in a doctor’s knot to hold the slip knot in place.
Now, onto hanging your bunches to air dry. Where you hang them will depend on where you live. If you want them to dry, you need to determine where the driest place in your home is.
For me, it is near my fireplace.
If you are out west, you might be able to do it outside. Other things to consider is bugs, critters or other elements that may harm your rosemary. You can also place a paper bag or some type of paper around the sprigs to protect them if you need to.
Once dried you can remove it as shown above and start using your dried herbs.
I hope you found this helpful! If you have any thoughts or ideas, leave a comment.