Don’t you just love cilantro? Here are some quick tips on how to preserve cilantro for use in salsa or Mexican food. This is one of my favorite food preservation tips. You won’t believe how easy it is!
I know a lot of my readers have gardens, so I thought today I would share with you one of the ways that we are able to preserve the things we grow in our garden so that we can put them in our food storage and use them all year round.
Did you know that you can preserve herbs from your garden and have homegrown seasoning for your food all of the time! There are lots of herbs that you can preserve by drying them.
How to Preserve Cilantro from the Garden
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Steps for Drying Cilantro
- After you pick your fresh cilantro from your garden just wash it and let it air dry (you can speed up the drying by blotting lightly it with a paper towel if you like).
- Once it is completely dry, place the cilantro in a paper lunch bag.
- Fold over the top of the paper bag, lay it on its side on the kitchen counter, and then let it dry for 10-14 days. Once it is dried out completely it will crumble easily. That means it is time for you to remove the stems and crumble the cilantro up into little bits!
- That’s it! Now you can either put it in your spice jar OR if you have lots (like I did), you can put it in a mason jar — I had two jars worth!
Having homegrown dried herbs on hand is such a great addition to whatever you cook. I am excited to try drying basil this year! It will be so yummy in my marinara!
We have dried parsley, fennel seed, and cilantro. It feels so good to be using things from your garden all year long!
Be sure to check out these other great food preservation tips:
Dehydrating Apples with Cinnamon and Sugar
Preserving Strawberries with a Dehydrator
Canning Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce
Tell me in the comments below…what are your favorite herbs to preserve?
See ya next time!
Deb
Erin
Saturday 3rd of August 2019
This year my little son (6 yrs old) planted his own garden. Apparently he planted cilantro! It is growing very well so I can't wait to dry it and be able to use it as you suggested. What a wonderful way to be able to use it all year long!! Thanks for a great tutorial.
Debra
Sunday 4th of August 2019
Oh, how fun! Little kids love playing in the dirt! I'm glad you found the tutorial helpful. Enjoy!
Shannon
Saturday 8th of June 2019
How long do the dried herbs last?
Debra
Tuesday 11th of June 2019
I am sure that depends on the herb, but for example...I dried A LOT of parsley two+ years ago. It is almost gone now, but I used some last week in a quiche and it was still just fine! I have used dried cilantro up to a year later. Just make sure you are storing in an air tight container!
Barb
Wednesday 1st of May 2019
I have my herbs started. Can't wait to plant them
Debra
Thursday 2nd of May 2019
Yay! We are just getting started with ours!
Sheri
Tuesday 5th of February 2019
Thank you. Finally found this. Would i be able to do this wi th any herbs? Lavende r, basil etc
Debra
Thursday 7th of February 2019
I have done basil and that will work fine. I haven't tried lavendar, but I would think it would work. If you try it, please let me know!