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8 | LIFE IN SOLERA | JANUARY 2025 | By Richard Crowe By Richard Crowe I grow several herbs in my vegetable garden and for years just picked them fresh when I needed them in the kitchen. A couple of years ago, however, I was making a dish that called for Herbs de Provence which is a mixture of several different kinds of herbs, but found that I was out of that. When I went to the grocery store for more, I found that the price of a small jar was $10. "To heck with that," I thought, "I'll make my own." When I read up on what herbs make up Herbs de Provence, I realized I was growing nearly all of them so I decided to make my own and have been doing so ever since. Recipes for Herbs de Provence differ in type and quantity. Many French cooks feel the following is a good recipe: 19% thyme, 27% rosemary, 27% savory, and 27% oregano. Other recipes may also contain basil, bay leaf, hyssop, tarragon, summer savory, parsley, fennel, and chervil. I do not pay too much attention to the details and just grab what I think will make a good mixture. When a recipe calls for a specific dried herb, I sometimes just add Herbs de Provence. Why not? While I have a dehydrator, I usually dry them in pans in the sun. However, I usually finish rosemary and sage in the dehydrator as they are thick-leaved and otherwise take a long time to sun-dry. Below are photos of the drying and crushing process. Following the drying step, I strip leafy herbs from stems by hand and crush by hand. However, I use a coffee grinder for rosemary and sage … just a couple of pulses does the trick. The following photos, numbered in order of the steps involved, support this narrative. The herbs shown in Photo 2 are as follows (clockwise from bottom): oregano, marjoram, basil, tarragon, and rosemary. In the center are thyme (red dish) and sage (purple dish). Herbs that do not overwinter (tarragon and basil) are also dried and bottled alone. 1 4 7 8 9 2 5 3 6