Preserve it with dehydration - dried herbs make a great fair entry!
Your hearty, perennial herb garden should be recovering and rebounding from the winter by now. How about dehydrating some of those and entering them in the county fair? Or create a mix of several dried herbs for a special blend – and yes, entering that into the county fair. Do you have lavender flowers blooming? Use some of those fresh dried herbs to make a batch of Herbs de Provence.
No herb garden? No problem. I bet you can find some fresh herbs at your local grocery store.
How to get started dehydrating
Clean your counter tops. Rinse those fresh herbs under running water to get rid of insects and dirt. Use a salad spinner to get all that moisture off or use several layers of paper towels to gently pat your herbs as dry as possible. Lay in a single layer on dehydrator trays.
The flavor of herbs comes from the oils in the cell walls of the plants. Leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds can all be dehydrated. It takes heat, low humidity, and air flow to dehydrate herbs. Set your dehydrator between 95 and 110 degrees F. Herbs are sufficiently dry when leaves are crispy and crumble easily between the fingers.
Don't forget these important final steps
There’s one more step to the dehydration process to destroy any insects or insect eggs that may be on your dried herbs. Freeze your herbs at 0 degrees F for at least 48 hours.
Date and label your herbs. Store your herbs and herb mixes in a cool, dry, and dark place away from the stove and sink (I know this sounds crazy because we all use our herbs as we cook). Most dried herbs, if stored properly, will keep well for up to a year. Use your nose to judge whether your herbs are still flavorful – does your basil, for instance, still smell fresh? Whole herbs will retain their flavor longer.
Are you used to cooking with fresh herbs and worry about substituting dried? A general rule of thumb for most herbs is 1 tablespoon of fresh herb is equal to 1 teaspoon of dried herb or ¼ teaspoon of powdered herb.
Go forth and dehydrate some herbs. Be brave. Enter some quarter-pint jars in the county fair.
This article by UC Master Food Preserver of El Dorado County Laurie Lewis originally appeared in the May 2026 Mountain Democrat.
The UC Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County are a great resource for answers to your food safety and preserving questions.