How do I dry basil and keep it green without usung any chemical preservatives?

Question

Every batch I've tried drying this season has gone brown and lost its zing. Most of our crop gets made into various pestos, but we want some high quality died on hand too.

Answer 1

Watching Alton Brown on Good Eats, he used a big fan and furnace filters to blow air through the basil, thus increasing the drying speed.

He had a box fan and two clean furnace filters.
He placed a layer of leaves onto one filter and topped it with another so the basil leaves are now trapped between two filters.

He used bungee cords to tie the filter to the fan and turned on the fan. The contant blowing air dried those leaves.

Answer 2

I gave up on drying my herbs. I flash freeze them instead and they keep their nice green color. I just lay the basil (or what herb I have) in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once they are frozen I quickly put them into a ziplock bag. Don't handle them too much or they will unthaw. I do this with parsley and oregano too.

Answer 3

If it is hot where you are, leave it out in the sun to dry. It will go brown and loose some of its zing. You just need to add more.

Answer 4

If you can't get it dried to your satisfaction (I use a very low oven) you can always freeze some in ice cube trays in water.

Then when you need some just pop out a cube, let thaw and use in your pesto. Will taste as good as fresh.

Answer 5

Bought an Aero-Grow indoor herb garden recently, and the herbs are growing like weeds...

I'm looking at food dehydrators -- there's a wide range of prices, I just started researching them to see whether I need to spend $70 or can get by with a cheaper one.

http://www.target.com/gp/search.html/601-2797815-0773716?field-keywords=dehydrator

These inexpensive units look good:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FFVIQK?ie=UTF8&tag=openspeechorg-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FFVIQK">Nesco American Harvest FD-35BJW-5 Snackmaster Entree with Jerky Kit

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FFVJ3C?ie=UTF8&tag=openspeechorg-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FFVJ3C">Nesco American Harvest FD-75PR 700-Watt Food Dehydrator

cheapest option, and from the same manufacturer as the above...

"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UASC0A?ie=UTF8&tag=openspeechorg-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000UASC0A">Food Dehydrator

Any convection oven would be an effective dehydrator as well, just need an ovenproof tray.

Answer 6

Tried, no success either. I grow fresh and use it as fresh. I buy the dried off season for tomato sauces, etc.