Anyone dry their own herbs and spices?

Yes I use a freeze dryer to dry the herbs, leaves, flowers, roots and fruits and make blends/powders/teas. It’s awesome

food processor to pulverize or powder

I rinse and hang them to dry on a cotton line in the laundry room until they get crispy like fallen leaves. Then pulverize them by rubbing together in your hands until they reach the consistency I like. I usually make an italian bleu with all the leftover herbs.

regular cuisinart. if the herbs are completely dry (100%) you get a fine powder

I don't dry any herbs but do dry peppers. I will smoke jalapeños for a few hours then put them in dehydrator. I have this Cuisinart grinder that works good for me although I wish it was a little larger.

Cuisinart grinder

Any cheap coffee grinder will work.

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Yes I use a freeze dryer to dry

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What freeze dryer do u use? The ones I've looked at for home use are way more expensive than I would pay to dry herbs. Have. always wanted to make freeze- dried meals for backpacking but the devices are pricey

harvest right, medium size

LINK

Wait until there’s a big sale they do it pretty often, Black Friday in particular. There is also a pretty robust used machine market and sometimes refurbs. People buy them and don’t use them…I use ours at least once a week.

There’s just no better way to preserve garden products. It basically mummifies vegetable matter for unlimited shelf life. Will you make your money back? Probably not but you’ll eat better and you will stop wasting food

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Do you deseed before smoking or no?

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No, I smoke them whole.

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monarda fistulosa

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hell yeah
i have a big patch i'm about to cut and dry
what i'm really excited about are the roselle hibiscus' i just planted. later this summer we should have a mess of calyxes to harvest to make red zinger tea

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you include the seeds in your mix or do you separate pepper flakes from peppers?

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I will break open the dried pepper and scrape out as many seeds as I can but don't stress about not getting them all. Cutting the peppers open and removing seeds before smoking might be a good idea. I may do that with some of this year's crop.