From our perspective, timing is everything. You must understand our life cycle to capture our most potent flavor. We produce our highest concentration of aromatic essential oils—the source of our famous flavor—just as we begin to form flower buds. At this stage, our energy is intensely focused on reproduction, and these protective, fragrant oils attract pollinators. Harvesting during the early bud formation stage ensures you get the maximum yield of these flavorful compounds. If you wait until our flowers are fully open, our energy diverts to blooming, causing the leaves to become slightly bitter and less aromatic. For the best flavor, watch us closely and act when the first tiny buds appear.
Please come for us in the mid-morning, after the dew has evaporated but before the midday sun grows intense. This is when our essential oils are most concentrated within our leaves. Morning sun helps us metabolize, boosting oil production. Harvesting while our leaves are wet from dew or rain promotes mold and dilutes our precious oils. Conversely, harvesting in the intense afternoon heat causes our oils to volatilize and escape into the air, diminishing the flavor we work so hard to produce. For the highest quality, aim for a dry, sunny late morning.
Do not simply pluck our individual leaves! This is inefficient and stressful for us. Instead, use clean, sharp scissors or pruning shears. Cut our stems back by about one-third to one-half of their total length. Always make your cuts just above a set of leaf nodes—this is where two new stems will emerge. This method of harvesting is, for us, a form of pruning. It encourages us to become bushier and more productive, leading to a much greater yield for you over the growing season. It prevents us from becoming leggy and woody. By harvesting entire stems, you take a larger yield while simultaneously prompting us to generate lush, new growth for your next harvest.
While we are resilient, we still need enough foliage to photosynthesize and sustain ourselves. Never harvest more than two-thirds of our plant body at one time. If this is your first harvest of the season, taking about one-third of our growth is a safe and generous amount. This leaves us with plenty of leaves to gather sunlight and energy to regrow vigorously. Overharvesting weakens us, making us susceptible to disease and stunting our growth, which will reduce your overall seasonal yield. A mindful harvest ensures we remain healthy and productive for years to come.
Your job is not done once we are cut. How you treat us immediately after harvest is crucial to preserving the flavor you worked so hard to obtain. Gently rinse our stems if needed, but pat us completely dry. To retain our volatile oils, avoid crushing our leaves until you are ready to use them. For drying, bundle a few stems together and hang us upside down in a warm, dark, dry, and well-ventilated area. This slow drying process preserves our complex flavor profile far better than using high heat. Once we are crumbly dry, strip the leaves from the stems and store them in an airtight container away from light and heat.
