Dried dill: ways to harvest dill greens for the winter. How to dry greens (dill, green onions, parsley) for the winter at home

Dried spicy parsley has a delicate spicy and aromatic taste. It is prepared from a garden leaf variety of a plant. In contrast, the root type of parsley is a weakly branching thickened root.

Seasoning is used all year round to improve the taste of meat side dishes, vegetable and fish dishes. In addition to aromatization, the use of dried herbs normalizes the water-salt balance and the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract in the body, and contributes to good absorption of food.

Dried parsley contains beneficial vitamins, minerals and antioxidants just like fresh parsley, although in smaller quantities.

It should be noted that in most spices, spicy parsley is present in the form of finely chopped dried herbs or ground seeds.

dried parsley recipe

Before drying, the greens are rinsed with water, shaken off and the leaves are laid out to dry separately from the stems on a wire rack or paper towel.

Put the grass to dry in the oven for several hours at about 50 degrees.

• Parsley greens are not chopped, but cut to preserve the juice, which contains flavoring and aromatic substances.
• If you put the grass roots in a wooden box, sprinkle with dry sand and put in a cool dark place, then the parsley roots will be stored for 3-4 months.
• Even in the hottest heat, it will retain its fresh appearance if it is placed in a dry, tightly closed container, and the parsley should also be dry.
• For salad, young grass roots are best chopped on a grater.
• Parsley greens will become more fragrant if sprinkled with warm water, not cold.

After cutting and sprinkling with salt, fresh parsley in a home freezer is kept in an airtight container for several months. Dried greens packed in paper bags and stored in a dry place.

Dill greens are one of the first places in herbs used in cooking. Salads, first and second courses of meat, poultry and fish are flavored with dill. How to save this spicy greens for the winter is the main topic of our conversation today. Freezing and drying is the best way to store dill. At the same time, dried herbs have the brightest aroma. We will talk about how to properly dry dill at home so that it does not lose its taste and useful properties in this article.

If you plan to process greens from your own garden, then you need to carefully approach the issue of collecting it.

It is best to use very young plants for drying, which have not yet let out a dense tube with a seed umbrella. Collection time falls at the beginning of summer.

Cut dill from the garden, preferably in the morning, immediately after the dew has disappeared. If it rained at night, even a little, then it is better to postpone this procedure for another time, as the greens will be too wet, and this can lead to premature spoilage. For the same reason, it is better not to wash dill collected from your own garden.

If you buy greens on the market, and the purity of the product is in doubt, then the bunches of dill are rinsed under cool running water and dried thoroughly. A waffle or paper towel works well for this. Also, a bunch of grass can be placed in a glass in a draft so that the drops of water from the plant evaporate.

How to dry dill

The best way is to dry the whole branches, and then, already dry, grind thin leaves from a rough stem. The advantage of this method is that the essential oils in the plant will evaporate less and the seasoning will remain fragrant for a long time.

If, nevertheless, a decision is made to dry the plant without stems, in chopped form, then you should not strive to chop the dill too finely. This is best done just before the cooking process, rubbing a whisper of greenery between your fingers.

The main ways to dry dill at home

Outdoor drying

Prepared greens can be dried in bunches or chopped.

Small bunches, 5-6 branches each, are fixed with a thread to any canopy, placing them down with foliage. At the same time, direct sunlight should not fall on the place for drying greens, and it should be well ventilated.

Chopped dill is also dried in the shade, placing it in a small layer on pallets or flat plates. Grass on top can be covered with gauze to avoid dust settling on the workpiece.

Watch the video recipe from the channel “Cooking. Video recipes "- How to dry greens for the winter

How to dry dill in the oven

Since dill has a lot of aromatic oils, it is necessary to dry this herb at the lowest possible oven temperature, preferably up to 40 degrees. Too high an oven temperature can also lead to discoloration of the workpiece and the loss of its useful qualities.

Dill slices and sprigs are entirely placed on baking sheets lined with waxed paper. Keep the oven door slightly ajar. This will allow the air to circulate well. Baking trays should be removed every 30 - 60 minutes, the greens should be mixed and inspected for readiness.

The total drying time can take from 2 to 4 hours.

Drying herbs in an electric dryer

The prepared foliage or twigs are laid out in a loose layer on pallets and the unit is switched on to the "Herbs" mode. If your electric dryer does not have one, then the temperature should be set independently within 40 degrees. The product will be completely ready in 3-4 hours.

Watch the video from the Ezidri Master channel - How to dry dill in a quality way? Dried greens. Herbs

Drying dill in the fridge

Shredded greens or small twigs are laid out on a flat plate with a thin layer. From above, the structure is covered with a napkin. The container is placed in the positive compartment of the refrigerator on the bottom shelf, and they forget about it for about 2 to 3 weeks. During this time, all the moisture from the grass will evaporate and the workpiece can be transferred to jars for storage.

How to dry herbs in the microwave

Sliced ​​​​or twigs are placed on a paper plate or on a flat container lined with a paper towel. Top dill covered with another layer of thin paper. In this form, the greens are sent to the microwave oven for 3 minutes at maximum power. After the specified time, the top napkin is removed, and the greens are inspected and mixed. If necessary, drying continues in the same mode for another 2-3 minutes.

How to check the readiness of dried herbs

Qualitatively dried dill easily turns into a fine powder, if you try to grind the branches between your fingers. If the greens are wrinkled, but do not break, drying should be continued.

Store the dried product in dark glass jars with tight-fitting lids in a dark, dry place. Zippered coffee bags are also great for storing spicy greens.

It is unlikely that anyone today imagines cooking without the use of greens. Besides the fact that it is a tasty and fragrant seasoning for various dishes, it is also a storehouse of useful substances. So, for example, it contains four times more ascorbic acid than. And in 100 g there is 25% of iron from the daily norm necessary for a person. The best ways to preserve valuable substances for a long time in plants used in cooking are. We will talk about how to dry properly in this article.

What can be dried

It's pretty simple, easy and cheap way preparations for the winter. In addition, dried products do not take up much space and do not require any special storage conditions.

However, first, let's figure out what kind of greens can be dried so that it does not lose its properties.

These plants include:

Did you know? 454 g of greens contain the amount of vegetable protein that the human body needs per day.

Before drying greens for the winter, it must be carefully sorted out, washed and dried well from moisture. Roots must first be cut. Remove yellow, dry, damaged leaves. It is also necessary to get rid of thick leaves and rough stems, old plants.

When purchasing herbs in the market, it makes sense to soak them for 15 minutes in salted water (one tablespoon per 1 liter of water). If they contain harmful additives, most of them should go away. After the procedure, the herbs should be washed, shaken well and dried on a towel (paper or linen).
If you prefer to dry chopped plants, then they must be chopped with a knife into pieces of 4-5 cm. When harvesting by hanging, it is necessary to collect the greens in bunches and tie them.

Drying methods

There are two main drying methods:

• outdoors;
• in special conditions - using, oven, microwave.

Outdoors

To dry your herbs outdoors, you will need twine or parchment paper, depending on which method suits you best - vertical (hanging) or horizontal (unfolded).

Outdoor drying should be done in warm weather.
The vertical drying technology is as follows:

1. We tie the discarded, washed and dried grass with elastic bands or threads into bundles of five to six branches.
2. We hang the bundles under a canopy with the leaves down, so that air access to them is good, but at the same time they are not strongly blown by the wind, and the sun's rays do not fall on them. When exposed to the sun, the grass will lose most of its nutrients, when exposed to the wind, the smell will disappear.
3. The distance between the beams should be about 7-10 cm.
4. Periodically check the readiness of the blanks. Drying takes from six hours to several days. If the greens are dried properly, they will be the same color as fresh. It shouldn't crumble to dust.

For hanging beams, in addition to a canopy, an attic, balcony, loggia, veranda or other well-ventilated room is also suitable.

In bunches it is good to dry,.
For a horizontal drying method, greens are laid out on sieves, pallets, baking sheets or another surface. Flat plates will do. Under the bottom is lined with parchment or newspaper, canvas. The grass is laid out in a thin layer so that one plant does not overlap another. From above, you can cover it with gauze. During drying, the grass will need to be turned over periodically so that rotting does not occur. Plants need to be covered from the sun.

On the windowsill

On the windowsill can be dried horizontally.

1. We lay out the grass on parchment paper or newspaper. It is best if the layer is single, not higher than 1-1.5 cm. Otherwise, the drying process will be long and of poor quality.
2. Mix once or twice a day.

In the same way, you can dry the plants on the loggia, balcony.

In an electric dryer

If you often harvest greenery for the winter, then there is a reason to purchase for these purposes. This is a not too expensive device that will help to greatly simplify the process and dry the plants with high quality.

The drying process in an electric dryer is as follows:

1. Washed, dried and chopped up to 1.5-2 cm grass is placed in trays in a thin layer.
2. If the dryer has the “Herbs” function, then select it. If there is no such function, then we set the temperature to 40-45 degrees.
3. To achieve uniform drying of the entire batch, the trays will periodically need to be swapped.
4. Typically, the process of drying herbs in a dryer takes two to six hours. For devices of different brands, this time will be different. It should be specified in the attached instructions.

Can it be dried in the oven

It is possible to dry herbs in the oven. At the same time, it is important to observe the required temperature, since too high a temperature leads to overdrying of plants, loss of color and valuable substances.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the technology of drying herbs in the oven:

1. Place the washed and dried grass on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. It is also desirable to cover the top with paper. The layer should be no higher than one or two centimeters.
2. We heat the oven to the minimum temperature. It is best to dry at a temperature below 40 degrees. To achieve a low temperature, you can place a wine cork or other object between the door and the oven that will not allow the door to close completely. This way the temperature can drop.
3. When the grass becomes lethargic, the temperature should be raised to 50 degrees.
4. We stand the plants in the oven for two to four hours, periodically checking their readiness.

Important! Do not dry several types of herbs at the same time. This will mix their scents.

1. You can dry your herbs in the microwave. It is placed on a paper plate, after covering it with a paper napkin. From above, the grass is also covered with a napkin. Dry the plants at maximum power for three minutes. After turning off the stove, the greens are inspected. If there are under-dried specimens, they are brought to readiness for another two to three minutes.
2. Dried herbs are an excellent substitute for salt and reduce its use. You just need to add a pinch of dry grass to the salt shaker that you usually have on your kitchen table. He does an excellent job with this task.
3. When drying, pay attention that the plants do not come into contact with the metal. Otherwise, they will lose their color and change it to dark. So, if you put plants on metal baking sheets, then you should spread baking paper on them.
4. Young plants lend themselves better to drying.
5. Different types of herbs must be dried separately (except in a dryer). If you plan to create a mixture of seasonings, then you need to mix them after they are dried.
6. For drying it is better to choose

Fresh herbs can enhance and improve the taste of familiar dishes, give them unusual notes. True, the product is perishable, so you need to know how to store greens in the refrigerator and freezer, how to dry it for the winter. Using simple techniques and affordable approaches, you can keep products in an appetizing and attractive form for several weeks and even months. At the same time, neither the gastronomic characteristics of the blanks, nor the beneficial substances in their composition will suffer. The main thing is to protect products from exposure to heat and ultraviolet radiation, as well as a number of other negative factors.

How can fresh herbs be stored?

• We spread the product in a small bowl, fill it with cool water and rinse thoroughly. After that, rinse the blanks already under running water, shake off and lay out on a towel. We dry the components for at least a quarter of an hour, shaking regularly. After that, we fill dried plastic containers or glass jars with fresh herbs and close them with airtight lids. If everything was done correctly, the blanks will remain in their original form for a month.

• Plastic bags can also be used to store a very fresh product for one week. In this case, the products also need to be thoroughly washed and dried, packaged in packages, without filling them too much. After that, we try to get more air into the container and pack it. The fridge shelf next to the freezer is best suited for storing supplies.

Tip: If there is a lot of greenery, you can not wash it. It is enough to sort out the products, remove wilted or darkened twigs and put them in a voluminous bag. We also add a few small peeled onions there, which we change every 5 days. At the same time, we also change the package to dry.

• Within 2-3 weeks, the products will remain fresh if wrapped in the most ordinary paper without inscriptions. To do this, rinse and dry the greens, wrap it securely in a sheet of paper, leaving no gaps. Before putting the workpiece in the refrigerator, it must be sprayed with water from a spray bottle.

Greens, with the exception of leaf lettuce, can lie in the refrigerator without pre-treatment. But in this case, it should be well dried in the fresh air until the signs of moisture completely disappear. Such a product is packed in a plastic bag with holes and put into the vegetable compartment.

Freezing greens at home

Any representative of an impressive group of green plants will retain its freshness and usefulness if it is properly frozen. You just need to take into account a few important points:

• Components must be cleaned, washed and dried. Leaves should be removed from the stems. Plastic containers with airtight lids are ideal for storing blanks.
• Parsley, sage, dill and thyme should be chopped beforehand, so they are better stored.
• Dill and mint can be packed not only in plastic, but also in food foil.
• Rosemary and basil after packaging should be sprinkled with fine salt. For other types of greens, this technique can be disastrous.

It is allowed to keep only one type of product in one package. The combination of several varieties of greens is possible only if the chopped mass is frozen in portions in water, butter or vegetable oil.

Features of storage of different types of greens

In addition to the universal rules for keeping greens fresh, you should familiarize yourself with a number of specific points. Their observance will help to achieve maximum shelf life of products:

1. Dill and parsley can also be stored at room temperature. But for this, the bundle must be placed with stems in a container with water, and the leafy part must be covered with a bag. The fluid is changed every 2-3 days.
2. Mint and dill are recommended not to be kept in a large bunch, but divided into small pieces. This will maximize their flavor.
3. Do not cut off the white parts from green onions. It is better to remove the transparent film from them, soak in cold water and wrap with a damp cloth. We first pack the blank in plain paper, then in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator.
4. Lettuce quickly softens and loses its crunchy texture. To prevent this from happening, you need to take a bowl, line it with a paper towel, lay out the salad, put another towel on top. We wrap the structure with cling film and put it in the refrigerator. Freshness for a week is guaranteed.

If it seems that the workpiece has lost its aroma after long-term storage, place it for several minutes in cold water. The smell will return and be as intense as it was at the beginning.

How to dry greens according to all the rules?

At home, you can use two methods of preparing blanks. Before drying the greens, the products will need to be washed and dried. Next, we act according to one of the schemes:

• In the oven. Separate the leaves from the stems and finely chop. We distribute the mass in a thin layer on a dry and clean baking sheet, cover with a sheet of waxed paper. We put the structure in the oven, heated to 40ºС, and keep it at the same temperature for three hours. After that, the composition is laid out in sterile glass jars and closed with lids.
• On air. We collect the stems of plants in small bundles, which we tie with a thread. We hang them in a warm, dry room, leave for several days. We lay out the finished product in glass jars.

Stocks should be checked regularly. If traces of moisture appear on the walls of the container, the containers must be changed, and the blanks must be dried again, but this time not longer than half an hour.

Harvesting green onions for the winter

• We wash the product, dry it, clean it from surface films and cut into small rings. Once again, dry the mass by spreading it on a paper towel. By the time of packing, the onion must be absolutely dry, otherwise its taste characteristics will suffer. We lay out the workpiece in plastic containers or bottles of small volume and put it in the freezer.

• Wash, peel, chop and lightly dry the onion. Pour into ice cube trays and fill with water, vegetable or melted butter. We put it in the freezer for storage.

Green onions prepared in one of the above ways do not need to be thawed before use. It, like dried ingredients, is simply added to dishes at any stage of their preparation.

Good afternoon friends!

Everyone knows that leafy greens have a number of healing properties. No wonder the Caucasian centenarians serve fragrant herbs for each dish. Parsley, coriander, celery, dill, basil, spinach, sorrel, lettuce are cultivated in any garden. The composition of plants contains in large quantities: carotene (provitamin A), ascorbic acid, vitamins P, PP, B, K, E, macro- and microelements, organic acids, dietary fiber, ash substances and a whole complex of antioxidants. Today I will tell you how to properly dry greens for the winter.

Naturally, freshly picked greens are much healthier than canned or dried ones, but even in any of the listed harvesting options, the herb still contains a sufficient content of biologically active phytonutrients that have a beneficial effect on the human body. Yes, and it is much safer to use grass grown with your own hands and then dried than to buy it in supermarkets in winter, when manufacturers most often use synthetic substances to stimulate plant growth.

The most popular method for harvesting greenery for the winter is drying it. The drying method does not require much effort, and the finished product does not take up much space and is ideally easy to store. You can dry any kind of greens, for use in food, both individually and in various combinations. Different herbs should be laid out for drying away from each other so that their aromas do not mix and transform. Exquisite seasonings are prepared from dried herbs, combining a variety of types with each other, for example, coriander leaves + basil + arugula or parsley + celery.

Preparing greens for drying

Plants are sorted out, removing yellowed leaves and damaged specimens. Roots (if any) and coarse twigs are pruned. Drying is mainly tender leaves. A bunch of greens is washed several times, dipped in a bowl of fresh water. If you purchased herbs at the market and are not sure of their environmental friendliness, then to remove possible toxic compounds and disinfect plants, they are kept for 15 minutes in salted water (a tablespoon of table salt per liter of cool water).

After the grass is shaken off from drops of water and laid out in a single layer on a kitchen towel to evaporate excess moisture. Next, the greens are crushed or tied into bundles, depending on the chosen drying option. Please note that in order to preserve more beneficial compounds, any herbs are dried in shady places, since vitamins, antioxidants and other biologically active substances are destroyed under the influence of ultraviolet radiation.

Drying greens

It is advisable to dry large adult plants in bunches, for example, dill, coriander, parsley. Such bundles are suspended by the stems with foliage down in a sufficiently ventilated room, for example, on a veranda, loggia, balcony, attic or in a country house under a canopy.

The rest of the greens are cut and laid out in a thin layer on light paper, trays, baking sheets, clean canvas, etc. Drying is carried out in places without access to the sun with good ventilation.

Storage of dried herbs

Store dry grass in glass hermetic containers. It is most convenient to label each jar so as not to confuse the plants. Eastern culinary experts do not recommend using metal objects, such as a coffee grinder, to grind dried spices. Seasonings are mixed immediately after drying, sometimes grinding them with a mortar, hand mill or rubbing between the palms.

Dried greens are a great addition to the main hot, cold and snack dishes. Now that you know about how to dry greens for the winter, even in severe frosts on your table there will always be a piece of summer with fragrant herbs. See you!