Drying Backyard Parsley

Before going on vacation a few weeks ago, I harvested two bunches of flat-leaf parsley from the yard with the intent of drying them. I had read that air drying for 2-3 weeks was one method. I hung a bunch in the garage and another in the pantry. They were hung from the ceiling by string. But as the herb dried and shrunk it slipped out of the string. When I got home the parsley was yellow and much had fallen to the ground. Conclusion: Air drying doesn't work.

This evening I harvested more parsley to try out some different drying techniques. I washed it, spun it in a salad spinner, and let it dry for a few hours. I read more than one story about things going back if you tried to dry damp herbs.

I tried two different approaches:

Microwave: I read mostly favorable reviews (but a few bad ones) that said that drying in the microwave was a good way to go. Nuke them in small batches in a single layer with a paper towel beneath and above. Cook 30 seconds at a time and check. A small batch should take 2 minutes. But my second and larger batch took 3 minutes.

Oven: I read a few different reviews. One said to set the oven to 100 degrees, but most ovens won't go that low. Another said to set the oven to 185 and cook until dried (20-30 minutes). The one I tried had the oven at 250 degrees but you turn it off once the temperature is set. Place the parsley leaves on a cookie sheet in a single layer and put them in the just turned off oven for 30 minutes.

As all of this went on, I pulled out my existing jar of parsley. I turned the jar over and it read, "Best by Dec. 18. 05." I tossed the contents.

In the end, I couldn't tell too much difference between the oven and microwave dried parsley. If I had to choose I thought the oven did a better job of completely drying out the herb.

I pulsed both methods together in a food processor until they were chopped. I put the chopped leaves in the jar that had the old parsley.