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I have herbs sealed tight in jars with air tight lids when herbs get old they loose there flavor. It is impossible to grow every herb so I have to buy herbs at the grocery store or Mexican flea market. I should be putting dates on my herbs so I know how old they are. Today I got the herbs from the pantry and tasted a lot of them to learn some have about as much flavor as dries tree leaves. Fennel has lost a lot of flavor. Some taste like baled hay. I looked at herbs at the grocery store prices are $4 to $8 for 1 or 2 ounces. If herbs did not cost so much I would be more willing to throw out old herbs and buy new herbs. Maybe herb extract is the answer it is made by mixing herbs with pure grain alcohol.

Most herbs and spices should be replaced after about 6 months after they are opened. Dating the bottles are a good idea. I do know to do that, but I don't do it consistently except for baking soda and baking powder which I know loses potency if I hold on to them too long. I was having problems with the peppers going rancid and my friend told me the remedy to that was to keep it in the freezer and it works. He grows,dries, and grinds his peppers and keeps the powder in his freezer. He said they keep their flavor better that way. For myself, I prefer to use fresh herbs and only use the dry herbs if I don't have any other choice. The only exception are dill and bay leaf that intensify as they dry.

I agree some herbs are better preserved as dry herbs but others are better preserved in other ways.

With fennel, I like dried fennel SEEDS, but I couldn’t even tell what it was when the leaves had dried up forgotten on the counter. I was wondering if it was dill, but couldn’t detect the familiar dill aroma... so I think it might not last as dried herb. I actually don’t use it that much — what do you use fennel herb most with?

Depending, you might try making vinegar or oil extract or pesto, and then preserving those. (I think herb pesto is best preserved by freezing in measured portions — individually freeze as dollops on parchment-lined cookie sheet or in silicone mold or ice cube tray, then ziplock or vacuum bag). Ah ha!, maybe freeze in lemon juice if that is a typical combo?


Store-bought dried herbs — DD’s and I were bad-mouthing the bottles of herbs in the grocery store Spice section the other day. I don’t remember which ones specifically, but they all looked faded khaki-colored, and my freshly dried herbs at home were vibrant dark green....

Oregano, Majoram, Sage, and Thyme are very good dried. Rosemary is also intense enough. Mint and Lavender, too.

I want to make soup, stew, chili, sauce, bread and other things divide each into about 10 or 12 pieces then add a different herb to each to test the flavors.

I want to make bread dough then divide into 15 balls for dinner rolls. I want to put a different herb in each ball for flavor. Let the bread rise until double in size then bake. 3 rows 5 per row in a cake pan makes 15 dinner rolls.

I want to make a pot of chili divide it into about 10 cups then add a different herb to each cup. There is a Chili flavor in factory made chili that I have been trying to find.

India food is make with gravy & herbs. Gravy needs to be divided into about 20 different cups. Add herbs in different combinations to find the correct India food flavor.

I think restaurants must have better flavor herbs than is available to the general public. Fresh herbs are great if you can find the ones you want at the store or in your garden. When I follow a recipe herb flavors are never as good as a restaurant I am trying to learn why? Part of the FUN of eating in restaurants is GOOD food but prices in certain restaurants is a killer. I refuse to pay $12 for India food lunch when there are 50 other places to eat for $5, $6 & $7 per lunch. 2 India Food Lunches plus tax = $26.40 totally unreasonable price for lunch we rarely pay more than $11 to $13 for 2 lunches. Greek Lunch is $13.20. Thai food lunch $19.60 in a to go box we get lunch and dinner. BBQ pulled pork stuffed baked potato $6 each. If I could learn to make good India food I would eat it every day.

I have no trouble cooking good Mexican food maybe because I have been doing it for 40 years practice makes perfect. I need to take an India Food cooking class.

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I prefer to freeze some herbs rather than dry them. Most will do well ground up and put into ice cube trays. They are fine as long as you are going to put them in soups and stews and not as a garnish. I am trying to buy the smaller Mexican packages of herbs for a lot of things since the quantities are smaller and I can use them up faster. The herb prices have skyrocketed and it is a waste to have to throw them away because they are too old.

Most of the herbs I have, I use fresh, except the bay leaves which are dried and stored in the frig. I put peeled ginger pieces in jars after harvest and cover them with sherry and they last all year in the refrigerator.

One way to preserve the flavor of fresh herbs is to salt layer them, which is simply packing in a jar between layers of salt. I learned this from an Italian CB I had years ago - not many great recipes I kept, but I learned this method! You just start with a layer of salt, put a few layers of leaves in, sprinkle more salt, and keep it up, pressing down as you go along. Amazing how much will go in a small jar!

I only used it for epazote this season. I pulled the plants just before the first freeze, and had about 2 qts loosely packed leaves:
DSCF0379 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here it is started, in a 10 oz jar:
DSCF0382 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And here it is finished, with room to spare:
DSCF0386 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

DSCF0384 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

As for herbs and spices that I buy dried, most of those I buy unground, except things that come only ground, such as paprika (unless you grow your own!), and, depending on how quickly I use them, I keep a jar of them in my spice drawers (easier to label the tops, and look down on them, than to try to find them in a cupboard, which is traditional), or those spice boxes I have specifically for my Indian spices and spice mixes. The rest of the large amount that I got I keep in a vacuum sealed bag, which keeps them very fresh tasting, and the few ground ones, or things I simply don't use frequently, I keep in a box in the freezer. The vacuum sealed bags flatten out greatly, so they don't take up much space. A few spices don't do well in this, as they are sharp (star anise comes to mind), and puncture the plastic, so I put them in a jar, with a couple of oxygen adsorbers, and keep them on the door of the freezer.

Things like the Indian spice mixes that I make, I make in small amounts, for the most part, except for a couple varieties, that are used in larger amounts. And at this time of year, when I start using them more, since it's getting colder, I make up a bunch of new batches, and throw out the small amounts of the others, which I probably had not used for several months.

Two online spice sources I use are
https://www.penzeys.com/
https://www.spicesinc.com/t-spices.aspx

It is amazing how much more flavor slices have when you get them from a place like this, with incredible turnover, compared to supermarkets (plus no telling how long ago those jars were filled).

Another source, more for chiles and dried mushrooms, and a bunch of other bulk foods:
https://www.myspicer.com/