Drying Rosemary

 I was all set to bypass this week's Sunday Funday until inspiration hit.  The theme this week is Hunter/Gatherer, and it's hosted by Stacy Livingston Rushton of Food Lust People Love. We're to blog about something hunted or foraged.   

Well, I don't know anyone who hunts anymore, but I do love my venison, even if I haven't had any for years.  I didn't have any favorite parts, but I was always happy to accept whatever my former neighbor and good friend was willing to share.    My FIL would also share some of his hunting bounty with me.  And I love it all.  

I decided to become a forager for this challenge.  I went foraging in my garden, or rather, what's left of it.   I do have a rosemary plant out there that needs pruning.  

As I said, I have a rosemary plant that survived my absence this summer, so I decided to pick some and dry it to use in future dishes.  So I did.  I also wanted to shape the bush a little, and hopefully train it better for the spring.    

This is foraging, right?  Even if it's in your own front yard.     I also found out the rosemary was growing very nicely.   

I love the resinous scent of rosemary, and the flavour is amazing as well.   I've used it in many dishes over the years.  

I have a good friend who is teaching me how to forage; in fact, she shared how tasty Spiderwort blossoms are, and I used some to top this soup a few years back.   

 

I washed and dried the leaves, chopped them up very fine, and then used the dehydrating feature on my Nuwave toaster oven to dry them further.   I'll use them for seasoning when I want a hit of rosemary in a baked or cooked dish. I'll also process them further once I find the coffee/spice grinder I packed, since I know it's somewhere in the bins I haven't unpacked yet.  😜

  And those woody stems, well, they'll be used as skewers or chucked into a stew for extra flavoring.  

And before I forget, this is a Sunday Funday post.  

You can see what my fellow bloggers foraged and hunted here: