Sweet Basil

[Country Sunshine]

I hae two very large plants of sweet basil. Now I love the smell of the stuff and use a bit for seasoning tomato dishes.

I am wondering if I can use my dehydrator to dry it to use in winter.

Also, does anyone have any really good tried and true recipes for using fresh basil. I was thinking of flavoring some olive oil with a bit of basil.

I am open to any suggestions.

CS

[gunnysack]

I have a dehydrator, but have never done basil in it. I have always had good luck air drying my herbs. I've heard that heat drying destroys herbs flavor. Is this true?
Gunny

[Laura_quill]

Yes you can dry herbs in a dehydrator. My MIL does it all the time.
Gunny, drying herbs too fast can make them lose flavor. The reason why people don't use dehydrators with good results because they crank the heat up. If you keep the heat between 90-100 deg, they should dry in just a couple hours.
Then crush them and store in a dry location.
Laura

[tharp]

Here's a basil oil recipe

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=635699