Dried Herbs

[liuzhou]

I have searched for a prior thread without success.

Where I live, what I will call "European herbs" are pretty much unavailable in their fresh state. Apart from coriander leaf (cilantro).

No thyme. No parsley. No marjoram. No basil. No rosemary. No no no!

I have tried growing some of them but my itinerant work style doesn't really fit in with regular watering in the blazing summer heat or the chilly but not icy winter. I'm just often away from home.

I can however, get dried varieties sometimes, but to be honest I'd rather eat the moss growing on my patio roof than dried basil.

Which ones are worth using?

Edited December 8, 2012 by liuzhou (log)

[Mjx]

I'm partial to dried thyme, rosemary, marjoram, sage, and savoury, which seem to withstand drying very nicely (on the other hand, I find dried oregano appalling, and I don't care for dried basil, either; I always detect a weird chewing gum note). Quality can vary significantly from brand to brand, which makes 'worth using' as much to do with the source (and personal preferences) as the herbs themselves.

By the way, if watering your plants is the main obstacle to growing fresh herbs, do you have any way of rigging some sort of self-watering unit? They're very simple constructions, and work well.

[liuzhou]

Interesting.

I guessed thyme and rosemary might pass muster - if not near the fresh variety. I detest dried sage.

I'm surprised by your vote for marjoram, but loathing of oregano - they are virtually the same thing.

I could probably come up up a self watering system (although I'm not the most practical of people) but there are other problems. Getting seeds is but one. Importing them is officially illegal.

[SylviaLovegren]

Rosemary and thyme are fine. Try to find Greek oregano dried...and I much prefer it in cooking to fresh oregano. Dried parsley is just dust. I find dried basil odd, as well. Dried tarragon and dried dill are also good.

[Lisa Shock]

http://www.litehousefoods.com/products/instantly-fresh-herbs

These freeze-dried herbs are pretty good quality. Amazon does carry them, at least in the US.

[ElsieD]

I too find dried parsley useless as is cilantro. Bay leaf is good dried. Personally, I tried the litehouse brand dried herbs and did not care for them.

[IndyRob]

You might look into getting an Aerogarden. It will take care of things while you're away as long as you can get back often enough to fill it up with water and add nutrient pellets. Basil works very well. In fact, I'd suggest buying the smallest version and only growing basil in it, as the plants do so well that they want to completely take over the thing.