Drying sage: instructions and tips for harvesting

Drying sage - timing and preparation

If you want to do something for your health, sage should not be missing in the kitchen.

So that you can benefit from the healthy ingredients of the herbs even when dried, the harvest time is of great importance. Shortly before flowering in June / July, the content of essential oils is highest. Only then do you harvest, the aromas are largely retained when drying.
When harvested, the sage should be dry and clean. It is best to rinse the herb with a light water jet the day before the harvest.
After harvesting, you should no longer wash the sage, but only shake it off to remove dirt or earth.
Only perfect leaves are suitable for drying. Therefore, it is important to sort them out thoroughly: remove withered and damaged leaves as well as leaves with white spots.

Which method you use to dry sage is up to you. The different methods differ only in the time it takes to dry.

If you want to air dry the herbs, you have to plan between 8 and 14 days. Tie the shoots or individual leaves at the bottom and just hang them upside down in an airy, dry and dark place.
If you have a dehydrator at home, you can use it to dry the herbs within 8 to 10 hours. Only you must not overfill the sieves. Spread the shoots or leaves on it and always leave a little space free. The degree at which you dry the herbs differs from device to device. The information can be found in the operating instructions.
In the oven, you can dry sage even faster, namely within 6 to 8 hours at 40 degrees with circulating air. To do this, lay out a baking sheet with baking paper and spread the sage on it so that the individual leaves do not touch. The oven door must not close completely so that the moisture can escape. So, for example, clamp a wooden spoon in the door.
The fastest way to dry sage is in the microwave. You need a microwave-safe container in which you can put the shoots or leaves, but do not stack them. Switch on the microwave at a maximum of 200 watts for 10 seconds. Then turn the sheets and let the microwave run again for 10 seconds. You have to repeat this process several times until the sage is completely dry.
In order to ensure that you always have sufficient supplies and supplies of the healthy herb, we will show in other articles how you can cut sage correctly and also how you can multiply sage.

Sage tea is healthy and popular: we summarized the effects and side effects of this tea for you in the next article.