drying parsley

could i extend your question by asking how people go about drying it out as i have the same problem with curled and flat leaf parsley though not in green house but is growing like mad, sorry to hijack your question,hope you dont mind

i chop it fresh pop into ice cube trays with a teaspoon of water and freeze. when frozen they get popped in a bag and used as and when. i do this with a lot of herbs rather than dring them.

cool ill give it a go

ive read that you hang it from the stems upside down so the leaves are facing the floor end in a paper bag for about 2 weeks to dry out

Im going to do the drying method and the freezing method but still need to know the length and there growth part please peeps

x x x

Every time I want fresh MINT I cut a big bunch of nice young leaves chop it up add a spoonfull of sugar (as I am a sweet tooth) and I believe sugar is a good preservative! and very little boiling water just to disolve the sugar and then freeze it. I add more water and vinegar when you need it. Lamb is expensive this time of year and when it comes the mint has gone past its best!! So don't hesitate to do as much as you can now and it will re shoot. These herbs are so much nicer than the boughten jars in the winter.

You can microwave herbs to dry them and it only takes a few minutes. Spread them out on a piece of kitchen towel and zap them for a few mins, just keep checking them and turning them every couple of minutes or so; they dry really quickly. Let them get cold, crumble them and store in screw-top jars. They keep their colour this way too. Good luck!

Mookins darling, I wouldn't let the stalks be too long, you want fairly fresh young leaves. These are usually at the top. That said, you could always throw the stalks away if you dry them like lavender's, ie upside down in the airing cupboard.

Another trick is to put the oven on for a while til it's hot. Then put the temp. on min., keep the door open a tiny way and pop a tray with greaseproof paper, laden with the herbs/flowers you want to dry. Usually an hour does it. (James Wong, Grow your own herbs method)

Ooooh thanks Lindsay, that is a good one! Cheaper than the oven I should imagine too!

so saying that would any of you have a good recipe for a proper parsley sauce with fresh parsley because need to use loads of it,got loads of mint also and a peppery one called winter savoury but havent figured out where to use that one

If you've got loads of parsley to use and have run out of things to have parsley sauce with, how about this chicken recipe. Chop up several handfuls of whatever fresh herbs you have growing in your garden, the more the better, then mix it with a generous wodge of really soft butter (by the way this recipe is not for the calorie-conscious vegetarian!). Plaster it thickly all over the outside of a chicken and then roast as usual. The herbs dry out to form a crust but the chicken inside is moist and tastes delicious. It's dead simple (ie even I can do it!) and my family love it.

thats sound delicious will definatly try that
am going to harvest tomorrow morning as you supposed to do it when the dew has dried but its not too warm!!

x x x

ohhhh ill give that a try on weekend sounds really tasty,ive only got 4 types growing but will give it a go,cheers

Future Green....

Winter Savory is the one herb I do keep on my kitchen window sill. It's quite hard to get. But I use it for stuffed peppers. Brown mince beef, add cut up Winter Savory, eggs and breadcrumbs. Stuff in peppers (blanch peppers first), pop in pot, cook for 1/2 hour, serve with rice and tomato sauce. (tin of tomatoes, sieved, add 4 tbspns malt vinegar and 5 tbspns soft brown sugar) Yumm!!!