Greek Basil and Easy Drying

You can also cut tops when blooming

Bad pic but these are little clusters

By happen-chance I planted Greek Basil along the vegetable garden edge.  This Basil is the ONLY one I will ever grow again for cooking!  The aroma and taste is excellent, not as strong an anise taste as Sweet Basil.  It grows like a miniature shrub, but is only about 8" tall and about the same in width.  I have constantly harvested it by little clusters.  Its easy to collect (every 3-5 days), dry and store.  When you learn to cut it just right, which took a few tries, there is no trimming necessary.  No need to rinse unless you use pesticides (which I never use on any plants) and Basil plants, in my years of growing, have never needed.  I then dry on a window screen.  A cleaned old one is fine--you can dry all herbs this way with little or no cost.  Elevate screen from the floor as you want air circulation both above and below your cuttings.  Place in a dark and dry room.  Do NOT place in air conditioned room.  When the Basil is ready to store, it will break up easily between your fingers, smelling roughly 3X stronger than fresh cut.  If you over-dry, the aroma will quickly dwindle to basically useless.  Check it daily.  Almost all dirt on the herbs--usually all--will drop off during this time and when you remove to a basket lined with paper towels or whatever you want to use.  Next I put the herbs in a lidded mason jar by hand (used, washed mason jars, seals and lids are what I use).  If you can't stand the idea of not washing your own naturally grown herbs, then rinse and gently dry between paper towels BEFORE you dry.  There are other ways of preserving your herbs including freezing, storing in olive oil, dry-packing with salt and infusions.  I will share these with you later.