Herb Storage

We all need a place to put our herbs. Most of us put them in a cupboard in the kitchen so they’re handy for cooking. This is what most kitchen cupboards look like:

Image via Wikimedia Commons John Reid CCA-SA 3.0

All those plastic & glass bottles let in light which, in time, leaches out healthful compounds in herbs.

In school, we were taught to put our herbs in a canning jar, then put that jar into a brown paper bag, close it with a twist-tie and label.

This offends my neatness sensibilities.

I keep a couple months’ supply in the kitchen and the rest is in ziplock bags (with the air squished out) in a plastic tub in the cool, dark, dry basement. I replenish my kitchen stock as needed from there.

A couple of weeks ago, I had an “aha” moment. You may already have had this moment but just in case, I’ll share it with you.

Instead of putting your jar into a paper bag to keep out light, take a little more time and paint the outside of your jar with glass paint!

(I hope you are a better letterer than I am.)

Several coats are needed (this jar has three) but once you’re done, you have something that looks better than a bag and keeps out light.

(The light at the top is from the camera flash. But no light gets through the side.)

You still need to keep them in a cool, dry, dark place but at least this’ll help with the “dark” and “dry” parts.

Now all I have to do is find room for all those pint-sized canning jars…