Ways to Extend the Life of Dried Culinary and Medicinal Herbs
Inside: What to do about your medicinal and culinary herbs that are getting old? Are there ways to use these herbs before they are of no use? We all know herbs that are dried lose their vibrancy, flavor, and medicinal qualities the older they become, even if they are properly stored. Here are some things to do with your “older” medicinal and culinary herbs to extend their life.
As herbalists, we all have some herbs that are edging into being a little on the “old” side…you know, not as fresh as they need to be for medicinal purposes, right? Yet….we hate to throw them out, compost them, let them go. At least I know I feel this way. What can you do with these older herbs that are on the edge of needing to find a new purpose?
Here are some ideas for you!
But first, let’s talk about proper storage for your dried herbs.
Whether you harvest and dry them yourself or purchase them from a quality herb shop, storing your herbs correctly is vital to making their shelf life last as long as possible.
How to Store Your Dried Herbs to Make Them Last:
I discuss this in several of my articles because it is so very important to work with herbs that are as potent as possible. Fresh is best, but obviously, this just isn’t possible for the majority of us. Lucky are the ones who can walk out their door, harvest the herbs they need, and use them fresh, but most of us must turn to dried herbs for at least some of our herbal preparations.
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At any rate, dried herbs’ biggest enemies are light, heat, oxygen, moisture, and age. Therefore, these are the elements we must battle to keep our herbs fresh.
Store your herbs in tightly lidded glass containers in a dark, cool place. You can add oxygen absorbers to your jars if you like, too.
As far as the age part goes, different herbs will last longer than others. In general, the more freshly dried they are, the longer they will last if stored properly. Hard herbs such as seeds, barks, and roots last longer (usually) than dried leaves and flowers do.
The smell test is always a good indicator of freshness. Do they still smell potent? Do they have good color? If so, they are probably fine to continue using.
Most dried leaves and flowers will last at least a year to two years (depending on when they were harvested and how they are stored). Most roots, seeds, barks, and berries will last up to two to even four years, depending on when harvested and how well they’re stored.
Powdered herbs do not last as long as dried herbs that are in more whole plant form, so I’d suggest six months to a year for powders.
Way to Extend the Life of Herbs—Especially if They are Fading Away
As you clear out and rotate your herb storage, you may hesitate to throw out your dried herbs or compost them. I totally get this! Here are some ways you can consider giving these “older” dried herbs a little more life:
**Make bath teas from aromatic herbs
If you have aromatics, such as rosemary, thyme, peppermint, and others with strong volatile oil content, and they still have a nice smell and color, consider creating bath tea blends!
You can store these blends in glass jars, place a half-cup or so of the herb in a large cotton muslin bag, and enjoy lovely herbal baths.
These also make fantastic natural, homemade gifts for your loved ones. Create a few blends, put them in pretty jars, tuck some re-usable muslin cotton drawstring bags into a cute basket, and you’ll have a lovely gift in no time!
Here’s a recipe for a lovely bath tea to get you started:
Revive and Arise Bath Tea Recipe
Have you had a tough time lately? Or perhaps you’ve come home from a stressful day at work? Or maybe it’s the weekend, and you have 20 minutes for a quick and relaxing dip in a warm tub? Here’s an herbal blend that will save the day, calm you down, lift your spirits, and soothe tense muscles:
1 part Lemon Balm
1 part Peppermint
1 part Chamomile
1 part Rose Petals (organic)
1/2 part Rosemary if you want more of an energizing bath, so this is optional
To use: Just fill your tub a bit of the way full and allow the water to run through the cotton muslin bag filled with the herbs. Soak until you feel lovely.
You can also use this blend as a rejuvenating foot soak at the end of a day on your feet.
There are MANY other bath teas you can make, too—- So consider the older herbs you have in your cupboard and decide if they are still useful as a bath soak! Be creative with your blends, and have fun!
** Nutritive tonic tea blends
Herbal teas (tisanes) lend themselves well to nutritive herbs and tonics because the minerals and vitamins in these herbs are water soluble.
If you have herbs that contain high levels of minerals and vitamins such as nettles, horsetail, chickweed, dandelion, wild violet, blackberry/raspberry, red clover, and many others, consider creating a nutritive tea blend, like my Healthy Bones Blend.
If you use it daily, you may just be able to use the herbs up before they are too old.
One caveat, though: You don’t want to use them for a tea if they are truly too old, dried, pale, or lack any vitality at all. You can use them in one of these other methods below instead…..
** Tincture them
One of my students asked if it is ok to tincture “older” herbs before they are completely spent. This is actually a wonderful idea, as long as the herb still has some decent potency. If in doubt, compost….because as I mentioned in my article on Why Herbs May Not be Working for You, aged herbs can absolutely affect the quality of your medicinals.
If you accidentally purchased a larger amount of herb than you need, though, and you know you’re not going to get to use it up before its vitality is lost, then tincturing your herbs is a wonderful way to preserve them for the long term.
Many tinctures are still full strength many years after they are created. The power of the tincture really depends on a variety of factors, and one of these is the freshness of the herb, so just keep this in mind before making this decision.
When in doubt, compost! Your garden will love you for it.
NOTE: Some herbs don’t extract well in alcohol tinctures. Herbs high in minerals won’t release the minerals and nutritives in alcohol, such as nettle leaf, dandelion leaf, chickweed, horsetail, and many others. Be sure to know your herbal solvents and what liquids are best to use!
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** Cook with them—-Finishing Salts, Infused Oils, and More
This is really my favorite way to use up my older herbs. Cooking with your herbs ensures your body is getting a very high level of the plant constituent. I once heard re-knowned herbalist K.P. Khalsa say in one of his trainings that ingesting the herb directly is really the best herbal preparation of all because your stomach acid is actually the most powerful solvent we have available to us!
Doesn’t that make sense?
So, don’t hesitate to toss those dried nettle leaves into your soups and stews! Or add some chickweed to a smoothie! Or liberally sprinkle that older eleuthero into your oatmeal in the morning….There are so many ways to use these older herbs in your cooking!
Here are some articles you may enjoy:
Homemade Bone Broth (with Herbs)
Making Elderberry Powder and What to Do With It
Herbed Salt: Preserving Basil Two Different Ways (Applies to Other Herbs Too)
Southwest Immune Boosting Soup
** Use in Soaps and Skincare Products
If you are making infused oils with your herbs, you have the perfect base for making homemade salves and soaps, lotions, and scrubs that are SO good for your skin. You can also use herbal water infusions for many of these too, such as lotions and homemade soaps.
Again…as long as the herbs aren’t too old that is.
There are a TON of herbal salve recipes on my website and YouTube channel, so do a search! In the meantime, you may enjoy some of these ideas:
** Compost Teas
OK—-So your herbs are seriously just too old to save for any good purpose. No worries!
How about making up a compost tea to pour over your garden plants?
In a large bucket, add a good amount of your herbs, cover with water, and allow to soak for two or three days. This strong tea will begin to ferment, and at this point, you can pour it on your garden plants.
You can, of course, just toss them into your compost pile and let them degrade there, too.
**Incense Sticks, Wedges, and Cones
I’m learning the art of making incense these days, and am very excited about this! If you are a believer in the energetics of herbs and how they can release negative energies from areas, then this is a great way to use up some of those older dried herbs.
Stay tuned, as I am planning some wonderful incense recipes and directions for you coming up!
** Preserve Them in Frozen Cubes Containing Tea or Pestos or Oils
This idea for using your older herbs is related to food preservation, but I’ve found freezing is a great way to preserve your herbs for later too, and extend the shelf life of your older herbs.
Simply place the herbs into ice cube trays, cover them in olive oil, and freeze them to use later in your cooking. You have a single serving bit of healthy oil, and they are pretty too. You can also make pestos and other herb and oil recipes and freeze these as well!
OR….
Make a strong medicinal infusion (herbal tea that’s infused overnight) and freeze these in cubes.
OR….
Make a mash or paste with powdered herbs and water to use as compresses later. Just freeze these blobs and when needed, just wrap in some cheese cloth and apply!
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Final Thoughts on Extending the Life of Your “Old” Herbs
I get asked all the time: What can you do with older herbs?
After all, nobody likes to toss older herbs out, especially after buying them or spending time harvesting and dehydrating them. Luckily, you now have some ideas for extending the life of your herbs. Just keep in mind, if they’re too old….you can’t bring back the dead. So be wise in deciding whether to compost them or to try to use them in other ways.
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Hugs, Health, and Herbs,
Heidi
