Eleanor Hartley
A larder scented with summer
There is a particular pleasure in reaching for a jar of your own thyme in the depths of February, when the garden is grey and the herb bed looks like a bundle of dead twigs. Thyme, oregano and sage dry beautifully with nothing more than string, a dark corner and a little patience. It costs you an afternoon, and it fills the kitchen with the smell of a warm August evening every time you lift a lid.
These three are the backbone of British cottage cooking — thyme for roasts and casseroles, oregano for anything tomato-based, sage for pork, onion and stuffing. All are woody-stemmed, low in moisture and high in aromatic oils, which makes them the easiest herbs to dry successfully. Get them right and you will never look at a supermarket jar again.
Cutting at the right moment
Timing matters more than technique. The oils that carry the flavour are at their peak just before the plant flowers, when it is putting all its energy into the leaves. Once the flowers open, much of that goodness goes into seed production and the leaves turn dull.
- Thyme: cut from late May through to July, taking the soft new growth. A second light cut in early September often works well in a mild year.
- Oregano: cut when the flower buds are just forming and still tightly closed. This is the sweet spot for flavour.
- Sage: harvest in early summer, or take a light trim in late August after the first flush of flowers has finished.
Cut mid-morning, once the dew has dried but before the heat of the day. Choose a dry day, ideally after two or three dry days in a row. Never take more than a third of the plant in one go, and leave the woody base intact so it comes back strongly next season.
Don't wash the stems unless they are genuinely muddy or crawling with wildlife. If you must, rinse them quickly in cool water and lay them on a tea towel until they are bone dry — any lingering damp is the beginning of mould.
Tying bundles that dry evenly
Strip the bottom few inches of leaves so you have a clean stem to tie. Gather six to eight stems into a bundle no thicker than a fifty-pence piece; any fatter and the middle will still be damp when the outside is crisp.
Tie with cotton string or garden twine, and tie in two places — once at the base and once halfway up. A rubber band works even better, because it contracts as the stems shrink and holds the bundle tight all the way through. As the herbs dry they will loosen, and a slack bundle drops leaves everywhere.
For sage and oregano, which have sturdier stems, you can also plait them into a rope and hang it along a beam — a traditional kitchen decoration that is genuinely useful.
Finding the right place to hang them
The ideal spot is dark, airy and somewhere between 18°C and 24°C. Light bleaches the leaves and breaks down the oils; still air encourages mould. A spare bedroom, an airing cupboard with the door left ajar, a dry loft or a frost-free shed all work well.
What you want to avoid is the kitchen itself. Steam from kettles, pans and dishwashers is the enemy of drying herbs, and a bundle hung above a cooker will go limp and mouldy rather than crisp. A damp garage is worse still — a wet British autumn will ruin a bundle in days.
Hang them spaced apart so air moves freely between them. If you are short of hanging space, lay small bundles on a mesh screen or a sheet of newspaper on a shelf, turning them daily.
The paper bag trick
For thyme especially, whose tiny leaves shatter the moment you touch them, a brown paper bag is a small stroke of genius. Punch a handful of holes in the bag for ventilation, slide the bundle inside and gather the top around the stems, then hang the whole thing by the string.
The bag keeps light off, keeps dust off, and catches every leaf that falls. It also protects the herbs from the worst of a humid spell. The same method suits mint, lemon balm and any herb with small or fragile leaves.
Knowing when they are ready
Thyme and oregano usually take one to two weeks; sage takes two to three, and thicker stems longer still. Ready herbs feel brittle rather than leathery. A leaf should crumble between your fingers rather than bend, and a stem should snap cleanly instead of flexing.
When they reach that point, strip the leaves over a large bowl or a sheet of paper. Run your fingers down each stem against the direction of growth, or rub the bundle between your palms. Discard the woody stalks to the compost heap.
Leave the leaves whole. Crushing them to powder releases the oils into the air rather than into your cooking, and whole leaves keep their fragrance far longer.
Storing and using through the year
Fill clean, dry glass jars right to the brim — less air means less oxidation. Old jam jars are perfect. Screw the lids on tightly and keep them in a dark cupboard, never on a sunny windowsill where the light will fade them within weeks.
- Label everything with the herb and the year. It is astonishing how quickly anonymous green flakes become a mystery.
- Check after a week. If condensation appears inside the glass, the herbs were not fully dry. Tip them out and give them another few days before sealing again.
- Keep a small jar by the cooker and the bulk of it in the pantry, so you are not opening the main store every day.
- Use within a year for the best flavour. After that they are still perfectly usable, just gentler.
When you cook, rub the leaves between your fingertips before they go in the pan — it wakes them up. A pinch of your own thyme in a slow-cooked casserole, or a few sage leaves crisped in butter, carries a flavour that no shop-bought jar can match. That is the whole point of the exercise: a little bit of summer, kept in glass, ready whenever you need it.
