How to store fresh and dried thyme at home

Thyme or thyme is a fragrant shrub with dark green leaves. With its wonderful aroma, the bush attracts many insects or bees. Those who are going to grow this spicy herb in their garden need to know how to properly store fresh thyme at home. This plant is of great value due to its life-giving properties. It is believed that this fragrant plant has magical powers, capable of expelling evil spirits.

Storage Features

Before you start storing the spice, you need to dry it properly. If you make blanks without following the rules, then mold may appear on the thyme. They make harvesting thyme for the winter like this:

Selected thyme is scattered on metal trays lined with paper.
The blank is covered with gauze, which acts as a natural barrier against dirt particles.
The finished blocks are sent to dry in a cool place.
During drying, fragrant thyme is turned over so that the shoots do not rot.

Also, fragrant grass is dried in large bunches. The period of complete drying of the plant is 7 days.

Dry seasoning is best stored in glass jars, cardboard boxes, convenient linen bags in a dark, dry place. It is not recommended to use plastic containers, because they are airtight, spoil the dried grass, evaporate it inside. With strict observance of all the nuances of storage, fragrant grass is stored for 2 years.

Storing fresh thyme

Fresh spice is used to prepare various meat dishes, poultry and fish.

There are several ways to keep thyme fresh:

Spice is placed in sealed polyethylene, stored in a refrigerator away from the freezer. Do not fill the bags too tightly, the shoots should be located freely. In this way, you can store fresh thyme for 7 days.
Lay fresh stems so that there is free space between them. The glass container is closed with a tight lid. Thyme will be as fresh as if it had just been picked within 3 weeks.

Before laying, fragrant thyme is sorted out, but not washed.

Home drying

When dried, fragrant thyme does not lose its properties, a significant part of the healing qualities is preserved. At the same time, it is important to carry out drying according to the rules so that mold does not appear. Here are some tips for drying thyme:

The room for drying fragrant thyme should be well ventilated.
For the layout of the selected shoots, select a piece of dense fabric, a tray or a sheet of tin.
A layer of paper is spread on the prepared surface.
A layer of gauze fabric is placed on top of the spread out shoots to limit the access of insects to dust particles.
The fragrant thyme dries from 3 to 5 days, the temperature in the room should not exceed +35 degrees.

The end of drying will be indicated by darkened shoots, the leaves become hard, brittle in the hands. So you can easily dry your favorite spice for the winter.

To speed up the primary drying of thyme, experienced herbalists use an electric dryer for this. For the result to work, one condition is met - the device must not heat up above 35 degreesThorough drying is carried out on the upper shelves of the appliance. An electric dryer will help dry thyme in 8 hours.

But the oven for drying the plant is not suitable, because it is difficult to control the drying temperature here, even if the appliance is electric.

Plant freezing

Before freezing, the fresh plant is thoroughly washed and dried with paper towels. There are several ways to freeze fresh thyme:

Place the stems hermetically in plastic bags that are placed in the freezer.
The plant is crushed, placed in an ice mold, poured with purified water, placed in a freezer to freeze. Ready-made cubes with thyme are removed from plastic containers, placed in a container for long-term storage.

In this form, frozen thyme is stored until spring. Thawed spice is used immediately, as it instantly loses its valuable properties.

S alting culture

Winter s alting is another easy way to save thyme for 8 months. To do this, fresh thyme leaves are finely chopped, sprinkled with s alt. We spread the crushed plant in a jar or ceramic container. The container with chopped thyme is stored in the refrigerator.

Canning in natural oil or vinegar

Spice is preserved in oil. Thyme oil is made, which is then used to relieve pain, relieve fatigue, rinse the mouth.

Prepare the composition as follows:

The washed spice is thoroughly dried in the sun.
Crushed in a mortar.
Place greens in a saucepan with oil (8 ml coconut oil), cook the mixture over medium heat for 5 minutes until bubbles begin to stand out.
Pour the cooled mixture into a glass container, store in a cool place.

Fresh leaves can also be cooked in wine vinegar and olive oil. To do this, fresh leaves are passed through a meat grinder. The composition is placed in a jar, pour it with oil so that the herbs are covered with a layer of 7 cm. Natural oil prevents the appearance of unwanted mold during storage. Ready-made thyme in meat will serve as an excellent addition to any dish. It is often found in popular meat marinades.