Herbs Drying: Lemon Balm, Spearmint, Red Perilla

In Albums: tea herbs

Several piles of herbs drying on a table

Oct 29th, 2011, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows a number of herbs drying on my coffee table. I harvested these herbs right when the unusual late-October snowstorm of 2011 hit, thinking that there would be a frost that would cause the herbs to die down. There was no frost, and as of writing this, November 16th, there has yet to be a frost. I have thus been able to continue harvesting herbs.

On the left is lemon balm; on the right is red perilla or red shiso. In the upper right is spearmint.

I gathered these herbs primarily with the intention of making herbal tea, although I also use the dried perilla in soups. While I like using mint in soups as well, the particular batch harvested here is too sweet for my liking in soups.

This photo was featured in my blog post Drying Herbs: Lemon Balm, Red Shiso, and Spearmint.