MEDICINAL HERBS

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Do not attempt to remove bark from branches which are still attached to the tree — you may accidentally "run" the strip of bark down the trunk, and leave it open to infection from parasites, fungi, or disease.

The best time to pick flowerheads is
in the early morning, but be sure to
dry them quickly.

Once you have removed the parts of the plant that you require — the leaves, stem, root, bark, seeds, or flowerhead — store them in small cotton or muslin bags for transportation. Never mix two or more herbs in the same bag. You'd be amazed how two herbs that looked entirely different in the field can look confusingly similar on the kitchen bench!

Be careful not to crush or damage the leaves during transportation (a wire frame placed inside the collecting bag helps).

Drying and Preserving

Having collected your herbs, it is important that you prepare them for storage as soon as possible. Every home herbalist has his or her own techniques and favorite methods of storing herbs, and some of them are quite simple. The most popular means of preserving herbs is by drying. In removing the moisture from the cellular structure of the plant, you trap the "active principles," or therapeutically useful chemicals, inside. Also, the plant is impervious to mold, disease, and other problems. Dried herbs can — depending on the species — be stored for up to five years with no loss of potency.

Basically, there are two methods of drying, both of which have certain advantages and disadvantages. The quicker — and more common — method is indoor oven drying. The other method, which some herbalists find preferable, is outdoor frame-drying.

Oven Drying: The main advantage of oven drying is the way in which it saves time. Herbs that would normally take up to six weeks to dry naturally can be dried within an hour indoors.

The herbs should be placed neatly, side by side, on a clean, dry oven tray. A piece of aluminum foil should be placed over the tray, with the reflective side facing in. The foil should then be nipped to the edges of the tray, leaving a small gap to allow moisture to escape.

Place the tray into the oven, which should be set on the lowest temperature (150F°). Remove the tray every 15 minutes and turn the herbs over to ensure that the moisture is drawn out evenly from all sides of the plant. If moisture is drawn out through one side more rapidly then the other, burning may occur. Do not allow plants to burn to a dark brown or black color. When this happens, the potency is destroyed completely and the plant is useless.

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