[Janeymiddlewife]

What, in your  humble opinions    is the best way to preserve the following?

Sage
Mint
thyme
rosemary

Thanks!

[arugula]

I would suggest drying for any/all of these. Not that I'm always very good at getting round to preserving my own herbs.... 

[gillie]

Sage, thyme and rosemary will stay green all the year round as long as you can shake the snow off them - why bother to preserve them?

Drying is a possibility, especially if you have an Aga or whatever to dry them over, but they tend to loose a lot of flavour. 

With the mint I would put a few soft stems into the smallest size freezer bags, press the air out, seal and into the freezer.  When you want them, take out a bag and while still frozen give it a good quick crush and low and behold chopped herbs!

I do this regularly with flat leaf parsley, but have not tried the others. 

Gillie

[arugula]

Sage, thyme and rosemary will stay green all the year round as long as you can shake the snow off them - why bother to preserve them?

...
Gillie

That may depend on your local climate.

[sunshineband]

Round here sage and rosemary stay useable all year round (if you can find them in the snow  ) but thyme seems to lose leaves and not be up to much in the winter sometimes.
I hang up little bundles tied together with string, in the kitchen, and these dry well and keep their flavour.

Mint (if you are not going to keep a root or teo going indoors) freezes better than in dries imho -- see gillie's post above 

[scabs]

I tie my sage in small bunches and simply hang them high in the kitchen - they tend to dry completely in a week or so and then I crush just the leaves by hand into jars and seal. I honestly can't say that they lose much in the way of flavour and it's always a joy to open a jar! 

[gillie]

Sage, thyme and rosemary will stay green all the year round as long as you can shake the snow off them - why bother to preserve them?

...
Gillie

That may depend on your local climate.

It may.  We live close to Berkshire but at a higher altitude, so I guess Janey would be OK.

Some years I have potted up a few thyme cuttings and kept them in a sheltered spot close to the door.

Gillie

[Janeymiddlewife]

Thanks guys, will have to wait for rain to stop now - was thinking of using them up in hampers, plan to make lip balm and bath melts, and thought bunches of dried herbs might pad them out a bit 

[sunshineband]

Sounds lovely Janey.

What are you making the lip balm from?

[arugula]

Sage, thyme and rosemary will stay green all the year round as long as you can shake the snow off them - why bother to preserve them?

...
Gillie

That may depend on your local climate.

It may.  We live close to Berkshire but at a higher altitude, so I guess Janey would be OK.

....
Gillie

And in the interests of helping as many as possible with a solution to a question, not all live near the Chilterns and therefore may benefit from drying their herbs.

[gillie]

"And in the interests of helping as many as possible with a solution to a question, not all live near the Chilterns and therefore may benefit from drying their herbs."

Of course they may... if they have a suitable place to dry them.

I asked 'why bother to preserve them? and Janey has told us why she wants to.

End of discussion I think.

Gillie

[Aunt Sally]

End of discussion I think.

Not in my experience I think. 

[Janeymiddlewife]

Sounds lovely Janey.

What are you making the lip balm from?

I'm using cocoa butter, almond oil & jojoba - it's very easy - you just heat it together gently and pour into pots with or without colour & scent. Cocoa butter is strong enough not to need any additives and colours, but I have used commercial strawberry flavour & colour in the past which went down well. If you google there are lots of recipes out there. Also made body scrub one year with sea salt, shea butter & aromatherapy oil - has to be kept in the fridge and makes bath VERY slippery, but feels lovely.
The bath melts are similar ingredients, will probably use lavender in one batch and vanilla in the other and pour into petit four cases. Have got some purple "favour" type bags to put them in for DD to give to friends & teachers
NB - IMHO bath bombs are more trouble than they're worth, melt & pour soaps are easier

[sunshineband]

Never would have thought of making lip balm like that -- it sounds brilliant, thank you.

I shall look into it further as midget gem no 1 likes to give teachers home made presents (last year was cupcakes with their names on  ) so she will enjoy making something like this.

Thanks again

Sunny x

[Paul Plots]

"And in the interests of helping as many as possible with a solution to a question, not all live near the Chilterns and therefore may benefit from drying their herbs."

Of course they may... if they have a suitable place to dry them.

I asked 'why bother to preserve them? and Janey has told us why she wants to.

End of discussion I think.

Gillie

I agree with Aunty.... I think discussions can sometimes take quite a while to conclude.
Don't you think?