On Jul 25, 5:56 pm, "The Joneses" > wrote:
> "mobile" > wrote in message
>
> et...> hello
>
> > I have picked about 15 lbs of basilleaves, have about ten or more to go.
> > then repeat process as it grows like mad.
>
> > is there a recipe for canning pesto or a way to can basil leaves to use
> > in the winter,
>
> > if you are in the san antonio area, I would be up for a trade of basil for
> > ? what have you
>
> > thanks
>
> I've tasted quite a few jarred commercial pesto, and pesto in tubes, etc.
> They were all nasty. Frozen is the only way for me. And drying, of course.
> I'm ready to dry another batch today myself. It's so humid here, up around
> 45% in the afternoon, that nothing I'm drying is getting crispy dried. It's
> all kinda wilty.
> Edrena

The damp humid weather here in central NY doesn't allow for a good
air drying either. What I did to help was to make a hotbox for air
drying. I use solar radient heat, and that creats a hot air flow into
the storage area. On a good sunny day the box can warm up to 130-140F,
so I built in a screened window with a shutter attached to an old
thermistat that will open and close the shutter when the temp. gets to
hot.
This setup really works great for basel, oregano ect, and also
works on thicker leaf plants like sage, tameriac, thyme, and rosemary.