What's the best way to process homegrown dried thyme?

Cynthia is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.

added almost 2 years ago

I feel your pain! Try drying thyme the same one would dry rose blossoms. Cut, tie the ends together with thread, hang upside down in a relatively dark place (basement, garage) until dry. Hold bunches over a sheet of parchment. Run your fingers over them. Collect the leaves in a jar. Any sort of recycled jar will do just fine.

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Chris is a trusted source on General Cooking

added almost 2 years ago

You've worked much harder than me! I either strip fresh thyme, not worrying too much about a few twigs, and use it immediately. Or I hang it to dry, then do pretty much the same thing--instead of stripping, it's more like I kind of crumble it, getting mostly leaves and a few twigs, of which I remove the big ones. I definitely do not feel I have to remove every twig, mostly just the woody parts. And while a fair amount may end up in the compost, I see it as overall little work and a lot of gain--I think thyme is one of the best everyday herbs. I don't see the need for a food processor--it strips or crumples into small enough pieces.

Or else--tie the whole twigs together with twine. Use them in your dish, and remove the bundle before you serve. Nothing easier than that!

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Cynthia is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.

added almost 2 years ago

Or as Greenstuff suggests, tie the whole bundle up in some cheesecloth and immerse in whatever you are making.

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Sam1148 added almost 2 years ago

Just hang them up..let them dry.

Then use a clean sheet and take your hands to get the dried leaves off and them fall into the sheet..Collect and store.

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I agree with everyone here. Thyme is one of my most low maintenance herbs to harvest, just cut, dry, crumble and store. During the growing season I use it fresh and then off-season I keep a mayo-sized jar filled with dried thyme and it usually lasts me till spring. I try not to be too particular about the stems. They aren't that bad.

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susan g added almost 2 years ago

I had fresh thyme from the supermarket too long, and found that it had dried without any effort on my part. I took it out and kept it on a pantry shelf, and I found that the leaves fell of on their own. Passive processing!

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MyGardenersTable added almost 2 years ago

Thanks everyone! I think next time I will just run my fingers over the dried twigs and crumble the leaves, that's less yield but fine. I am so finicky about the small woody parts because when I was a teenager, once when I ate my mothers tomato sauce with Herbes de Provence, one of her staples, a small piece of a thyme twig got stuck in my throat. I did not hurt but it felt very uncomfortable. So after a couple of days I went to the otolaryngologist, who removed it, wondering about my mother's cooking. I was awfully embarrassed.

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Cathy is the author of The Art of Eating In and blogs at Not Eating Out in New York.

added almost 2 years ago

Fresh thyme is so great to use as is that the dried version pales in comparison -- why not put up your herbs in oils and fats that its flavor will permeate throughout? Here's a quick tip on making herbed butter (with fresh thyme and other herbs) that you can store in the fridge as a tasty topping for bread or for cooking with: http://lunchatsixpoint...

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MyGardenersTable added almost 2 years ago

Cathy, thyme butter sounds good however I also use thyme often in breads so I cannot do without it dried. But for cooking I like the idea of thyme-infused oil. Do you happen to know a good recipe for thyme oil?

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Cynthia is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.

added almost 2 years ago

Infused oils, compound butters, lovely ideas. As well, there is always room for recently, "fresh" dried thyme. Grow it up, use it up.

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We grow are Herbs every year and store them for the winter. What we do with Thyme is dry it hanging upside down, then cut it in small pieces in a colander, just crunch it, swirl it around and the small pieces fall through the holes. This is the easiest way we found to do it. Then we put it in a chopper and finely chop it.

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