How to Press Herbs

Gather the herbs you want to use by clipping long stems, pulling off whole leaves or cutting off delicate flowers. Avoid collecting herbs with thick stems more than 1/8-inch in diameter, as they may not press well.

Place a piece of cardboard about the size of a cereal box front on a flat surface to be your base. Fold a few pieces of newspaper and place them on the cardboard. Set two to three pieces of printer paper on top of the newspaper.

Lay your various herb collections onto the paper in a single layer with no pieces touching. Try to set the pieces as flat as possible and arrange them how you want them to look when they are pressed flat.

Place a sheet of printer paper over the herbs you have in place carefully, so you don't disturb the placement of the herbs. Adjust the paper and herbs as needed until you are certain they are as you want them. Set two more pages of paper over the first.

Put a few sheets of folded newspaper on top of the printer pages. Repeat adding printer paper, herbs, printer paper and newspaper until you have all the herbs you want to press in place, in one big stack. Place one last set of folded newspaper over the top layer of printer paper.

Set the remaining piece of cardboard on top of the top newspaper. Position a heavy book or a couple of bricks on the cardboard to literally press down on the paper layers and herbs. Leave the press alone for two to three weeks as the herbs dry in their new shape.

Disassemble the press from the top down, slowly pulling away each sheet of paper and collecting the pressed herbs. If the herbs still appear damp, put the press together again and wait another week. Store the flattened herbs in a labeled envelope, folder or in a box.