It’s no secret that you can save money foraging for herbs, or even growing your own in a garden at home.
How do you dry herbs in your car?
It’s so simple, it’s nearly impossible to mess it up. All you need is a vehicle that’s got a dashboard.
I simply lay out my herbs on some unused pie plates, baking dishes, or even cardboard and place them on the dash.
Depending on the thickness of the herbs you’re drying and the amount of sun in the area you live, drying time can take anywhere from less than an hour to all day long.
Do I need to worry about temperatures when drying my herbs like this?
Depending on your school of thought when it comes to temperatures and food preservation, you may want to monitor the temperatures inside the vehicle you are using.
Personally, I believe that it’s important to keep temperatures low, ideally at 105 degrees or lower.
This helps to keep all the beneficial properties of the herbs intact until I want to rehydrate and use them.
Since the herbs I was drying above only took about an hour to dry in the cool, early morning weather, the temperatures didn’t reach high enough to concern me.
But I do caution you to keep an eye on your herbs when drying like this; if you leave them completely forgotten, it’s easy for them to overheat, over dry, and make it difficult to rehydrate the herbs for applications such as tea or cooking.
Why would I want to dry herbs in my car?
Using your dashboard as a dehydrator might sound silly until you consider some of the reasons why you should dry herbs in the car!
Just a few reasons include…
- It’s cheap. So long as you already own a vehicle, there’s no start up costs for this style of dehydrating! Even if you’re car isn’t running (like a couple junkers we have here!), you can still use it to preserve your food!
- It’s easy. There’s no real learning curve to it. Just keep an eye on your herbs and once they’re dry, you’re done! Nothing to plugin, no trays to fill or squeeze in somewhere, and nothing to break.
- It saves space. With no additional appliance to purchase or store, using your vehicle is a great way to avoid finding yet another corner or closet to store a bulky appliance.
- It’s green! Dehydrating herbs on the dash doesn’t just save you money, but it saves energy. Instead of plugging in an appliance, why not go a little greener and use your dash now and again?
- It’s a great self-sufficiency skill! Instead of having to rely on the electricity or gas to preserve your food, you can rely on you! Even without fuel, you can easily preserve food this way.
