Best way to dry chives?

I have a lot of chives and I would like to dry them. I don't have a dehydrator - I dry most everything by hanging it or just laying it out in the house for a few days. Last year I tried hanging chives - that didn't work. Which when I thought about it made sense. Can I dry it in the oven?

Comments

  • Foodgardenguy
    Foodgardenguy Posts: 106 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2019

    Hi @tammyrichardsmt9,

    We have lots of chives growing around our garden every year. What we've found with our chives is that drying them in the open air doesn't seem to work well either. They tend to lose all their green before fully drying.

    So the better way would be to shorten the drying time. So drying in the oven has worked for us until we got a dehydrator. You can shorten the drying time by chopping them up to create more surface area. However, you may lose a bit of flavor as well.

  • Karyn Pennington
    Karyn Pennington Posts: 71 ✭✭✭

    Put your oven on it's lowest setting (mine is 170) put them in for about 5-10 minutes and then turn the oven off and leave the oven light on. Check them when oven is completely cool and repeat if necessary. I usually do this before going to bed and they're dry the next morning. Also, I snip them and place them on parchment paper. Let the oven heat up without the herbs/chives, even on the repeats.

  • tammyrichardsmt9
    tammyrichardsmt9 Posts: 109 ✭✭✭

    Thank you! I am going to give the oven a try!

  • chimboodle04
    chimboodle04 Posts: 286 ✭✭✭

    Since you have so many chives, have you tried chopping and mixing them with softened butter to spread on toast, use with potatoes, eggs, etc? We did a big batch and then froze small rounds of it to pull out and use through the winter. Yum doesn't even come close to describing it!

  • Foodgardenguy
    Foodgardenguy Posts: 106 ✭✭✭

    @chimboodle04 I've really got to try this!!

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2019

    Thanks for this. Never thought of Freezing herbs @chimboodle04 - can we Freeze any/all herbs by themselves?, without mixing it into the foods first.

  • Foodgardenguy
    Foodgardenguy Posts: 106 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2019

    @rainbow. Hi rainbow, yes pretty well. We've frozen many herbs before. Just make sure that they are relatively dry and air tight. You want them relatively dry so that you can separate them when you need it.

  • chimboodle04
    chimboodle04 Posts: 286 ✭✭✭

    @rainbow I agree with @Foodgardenguy about the freezing guidelines - in our house, we usually dry them and store them that way - we have frozen fresh bay leaves, but others we freeze are usually in the form of butter compounds like the chives or pesto's, which have oil... I have also seen people add fresh herbs to ice cube trays and then top them off with water or oil and freeze them that way, but I have not tried that myself...

  • chimboodle04
    chimboodle04 Posts: 286 ✭✭✭

    @Foodgardenguy when you try it, try to keep some in the fridge for a day or two - the flavors develop even more - truly delicious!

  • Foodgardenguy
    Foodgardenguy Posts: 106 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2019

    @chimboodle04 , now I never knew this before. I'll have to try doing some of our garden herbs for a couple of days to try it out. Thanks for this awesome tip.

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    so ^ this is added to foods already? - And then "add fresh herbs to ice cube trays & top them off with water or oil & freeze them that way," < - Okay, prolly I can handle this much, more. - What's strange is that we do have a nice Dehydrator, but that takes watching, & cleaning; & even stranger is that one would think that having grown food for 6+ decades, that using own Herbs should be also Natural for sure, but my attention has had to be Focused so much on all the other 100+ projects, that just now getting started with Herbs, let alone herbal Remedies. So now still hafta get herbs ID'ed by friends, since can't remember what the plants even are, lol - then get those little round... ice-cube trays (i just gave to a friend), & Add some EVOO? & freeze, right? -- Anyway, thank you all :)

  • chimboodle04
    chimboodle04 Posts: 286 ✭✭✭

    @rainbow yes, I was referring to when he makes the chive butter, to try and leave some in the fridge for a day or two to develop the flavors even more (if you can resist eating it all:) From what I understand with the ice cube trays, yes, add the chopped herbs and then top with evoo or water and freeze. We actually use small round ramekins to do this when we made the butter or pestos, let them freeze, then popped them out and put them all in a large freezer bag to store until needed. Popping the frozen ramekins in a shallow pan of warm water for a few seconds (make sure the water doesnt rise above the ramekin top) allowed the butter or pesto to loosen just enough that the herb mixtures were super easy to pop out without having them defrost too much. I'm glad I am not the only one who just seems to be getting on board with herbs after years of gardening lol! Been trying for the past two years to grow and preserve more and more of them - so much better than what we can buy in the store around here :)

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi @chimboodle04 - What a blessing & friend you are :) Thank you ever so much.

  • Foodgardenguy
    Foodgardenguy Posts: 106 ✭✭✭

    @chimboodle04 and @rainbow , I misunderstood the "one or two days" for herbs vs added to foods already. Thanks for clarifying!

  • StacyLou
    StacyLou Posts: 89 ✭✭

    Freezing chives is a pretty easy way to preserve them. Here’s where I got the idea from:

    Otherwise, you can do a google search on “freeze chives”.

  • Leslie Carl
    Leslie Carl Posts: 255 ✭✭✭✭

    FYI - Most herbs will keep their flavor better if frozen rather than dehydrated.