How to Hang-Dry Herbs Using the Rubber Band Method
Written and photographed by Juliet Blankespoor
A foldable clothes rack is handy for drying herb bundles.
Learning how to dry herbs at home is an essential herbalism skill and a simple way to preserve medicinal plants for year-round use. In this article, I’ll show you a beginner-friendly way to hang-dry your herbs in order to prep them for long-term storage.
One of the easiest ways to dry herbs on their stems is to hang them in bundles on an indoor clothesline or string. If you have a nice, dark corner of your house with adequate airflow, simply drive two nails into the wall and hang a string between them. In the olden days, our ancestors strung their herbs from the kitchen rafters, and some herbalists still do.
The two things you need to effectively dry herbs at home are moderate heat and airflow. To put it simply, fans and open windows are your friends. Look for a space that gets moderately hot, but that has plenty of air movement. An uninsulated finished attic or barn, for instance. A little heat speeds the drying process, but too much heat degrades plant material. Direct sun also lessens the quality of your harvest.
If you live in a humid climate, you need to pay more attention to your drying methods. If you have an area where you use an air conditioner or a dehumidifier, that will be an ideal space to dry, because both machines dehumidify the air, which facilitates speedy drying. If you live in an arid climate, drying herbs will be a piece of cake, and you won’t understand all the following fuss.
I prefer bundling herbs with rubber bands rather than twine, because the plants generally stay put. With twine, you’ll often find that the herbs become undone as they dry, falling to the floor in desiccated desecration.
The rubber band method might seem complicated upon first glance, but it’s quite easy once you practice a few times. It’s the most efficient method of bundling I’ve ever found and is largely cat-proof!
For a more natural option, look for produce-grade rubber bands made from natural rubber and free of coatings or dyes.
Step 1: Hang your string if you haven’t already, and then harvest your plant material, removing any undesirable portions.
Step 2: Gather up smallish bundles, typically with fewer than 10 stems per bundle. If your bundle is too large, it won’t dry in the middle.
Step 3: Split your bundle in half and loop your rubber band around one half.
Step 4: Circle around the entire bundle with your folded rubber band until it is taut.
Step 5: Take one end of the rubber band and loop over a few stems to hold the band in place.
Step 6: Pry open the bundle into two halves and place on top of the string.
Use the crunch test to determine whether an herb is dry enough to store. If you rub a leaf between your fingers and it crumbles, then it’s dry enough. If you rub a leaf and it bends and doesn’t feel crisp, it probably needs to dry a little more.
Once your herbs are fully dry, remove the bands before long-term storage, as aging rubber can become brittle or sticky over time.
Further Learning
If you’d like to learn how to properly store your dried herbs, visit our blog on How to Store Dried Herbs and Herbal Preparations for Freshness and Longevity.
For tips on how to start your own herbal medicine chest, read our article on The 10 Best Herbs to Start Your Home Herbal Apothecary.
Curious to learn more about herbal medicine making and herb processing? This article is adapted from Module 1 of our Online Herbal Immersion Program, where students build a strong foundation in practical herbalism skills.
Do you have any herb drying tips to share?
Let us know in the comments!
Meet Our Contributor:
JULIET BLANKESPOOR is the founder, primary instructor, and Creative Director of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, an online school serving thousands of students from around the globe. She's a professional plant-human matchmaker and bonafide plant geek, with a degree in botany and over 30 years of experience teaching and writing about herbalism, medicine making, and organic herb cultivation. Juliet’s lifelong captivation with medicinal weeds and herb gardening has birthed many botanical enterprises over the decades, including an herbal nursery and a farm-to-apothecary herbal products business.
These days, she channels her botanical obsession through her writing and photography in her online programs, on her personal blog Castanea, and in her new book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies. Juliet and her family reside in a home overrun with houseplants and books in Asheville, North Carolina.
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