Vermouth tastes extremely bitter and is not for everyone. Anyone who has planted it and wants to harvest it will quickly reach their limits when it comes to immediate use… Then drying is a welcome method of preservation.

Drying vermouth: step by step

It is clever to harvest wormwood at the right time. This powerful herb is packed with healing ingredients in its prime. As such, it is best harvested during its flowering period. The shoot tips or unwoody stems are cut off with secateurs.

Two variants are recommended for drying. Either you dry the vermouth tied up in bouquets that you hang upside down. Or you can dry the leaves and flowers freely after you have plucked or cut them off the stems. Shady, warm and dry locations are suitable for drying, for example at home near a heater.

Whether you dry the vermouth with a dehydrator or without, the drying process usually doesn't take long. The herb is dried in the dehydrator at 35 °C after 1.5 days. Without a dehydrator, it will take anywhere from 3 to 7 days depending on the environment and humidity.

Does wormwood lose its potency when it dries?

During drying, vermouth does not noticeably lose its aroma and bitterness. The same applies to its ingredients. Essential oils and vitamin C evaporate negligibly, but the potency of the herb remains strong.

What is dried vermouth good for?

Wormwood helps to prevent and treat digestive problems such as flatulence, a feeling of fullness and stomach pressure. When dry, it is suitable for:

  • Pour into a tea
  • Prepare a tincture
  • Preparation for an aperetif (digestive drink)
  • fumigation
  • smoking
  • as a bath additive

Wormwood tea should be steeped for 3 minutes. Do not drink the brew regularly for more than 2 weeks. Among other things, it contains the ingredient thujone, an essential oil that is toxic in large quantities.

tips and tricks

Caution: If you want to use dried wormwood herb to season dishes such as roast meat. You quickly spoiled the roast with its bitterness. The following applies here: less is more (a small shoot tip is sufficient).

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Herbs