Harvest Rosemary

If you have a rosemary bush in the garden, making your own dried rosemary is useful way to store rosemary, conveniently at hand for cooking.

Steps

Cut the rosemary. The best day to collect rosemary is a fine, dry day.
Make bundles of evenly sized rosemary stems. Cut off loose and scraggly ends. Keep the bundles at a maximum of 10 stems each.
Tie each bundle together. Leave some twine dangling for hanging each bundle.
Hang each bundle upside down in a dry, dark and well ventilated area. Leave to hang for 1 - 2 weeks.
Take down the bundles when the rosemary has dried. Untie each bundle and remove the rosemary leaves by running your hand down each stem. This should be performed over a clean workbench surface or a large container, such as a mixing bowl.
Store. Collect the dried rosemary leaves and place into airtight containers for storage.
Label and date. The dried rosemary is now ready for your culinary pursuits.

Homemade dried rosemary is best used within a year of production.
The optimum drying temperature is 21ºC - 32ºC.
If desired, crush some of the rosemary into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. This makes an excellent and flavoursome addition to recipes where the delicacy of the dish might be impacted by the texture and appearance of the leaves. Store in the same manner as for the whole leaves.