Spice cabinet or compost?

February 3, 2020 9:40 AM

Our planter with thyme and oregano went into the (northern climate) garage in October and has been sitting there ever since. I pulled a few leaves from each plant yesterday and they're still quite fragrant. Could/should I harvest and use these as dried herbs, or are they ruined somehow? I'm not sure how to tell. Pics here.
posted by mefireader to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

Best answer: They are fine, probably dried in near ideal conditions. If they were bad, the leaves would be either squishy and smell bad, or dried to flavorless dark brown powder.

If it smells good and tastes good, it’s good; process and enjoy!
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:44 AM on February 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Yes good to eat. The plants may come back in the spring because they're both perennials.
posted by tmdonahue at 9:47 AM on February 3, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: They are almost certainly alive. We harvest thyme from under the snow all winter.
posted by rockindata at 9:54 AM on February 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm with rockindata, if you water 'em, it's likely that the thyme, at least, will come back. But either way, they're definitely edible.
posted by straw at 11:01 AM on February 3, 2020

Best answer: They're both still green! Can you provide them with a little light? I think you have living plants right there -- they're a bit dormant/slow growing, which is good in winter -- I wouldn't water them much until you can put them in the sun again.

I might put a tiny bit of water on them one time to help the green part be at its best, wait a little bit, then harvest and hang the herbs to dry. Then seal them in jars as soon as they're dried out, then keep the jars in the freezer, to keep as much flavor as possible.
posted by amtho at 1:36 PM on February 3, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! I marked all as best answer, but I'd love to hear any other thoughts or experiences.
posted by mefireader at 3:44 PM on February 3, 2020

I overwinter a few planters of herbs in the house every year - half of them usually die back quite a bit and I just use the dead bits as dried herbs with no problems. I will say this doesn't work nearly as well with parsley or basil as with more oily plants like oregano, sage, thyme.

They go back outside in early April with established roots and tend to be very productive.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:48 PM on February 3, 2020 [1 favorite]