Drying herbs.

I have bought many herbs to plant in the garden from a sale (0.99 each :lol:).

I am looking forward to dry a lot of them, especially the mint for tea usage. What method do you use? Is the oven ok? What temperature to use and different time for different herbs??

I am contemplating the purchase of a dehydrator but don't know anyone who has used one. Are they expensive? And is it a great kitchen item?

Thanks in advance, everyone.

I'd rather freeze the herbs I harvest instead of drying; otherwise I prefer to buy them at the store considering they're so cheap versus going through the trouble of drying them.

Having said that, I do have some herbs that aren't readily available, and I've used method using paper towels as explained at this site:

http://www.wikihow.com/Preserve-Herbs

As for the dehydrator, I wouldn't buy one just for herbs, but if you plan on using it for other things, it might be a worthwhile investement. There's a good article here:

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/20...-your-harvest/

I use the microwave.

http://tipnut.com/how-to-dry-herbs-with-a-microwave/

I have a dehydrator and love it. I dry apples, pears, strawberries and sometimes other stuff but mostly fruit. It's great in the kids lunches in winter and they eat way more than one serving of fruit this way.

I luv all the tips and links. Thanks everyone.