Herb's storage

bbsadmin

Can someone advise how to store herbs, what is the best media
Glass, Plastic, wooden container or in freezer ?

kgar

Dear fadjar,
Please read my answer to your post in the Forum of course E.
In general, it's quite complicated to store the herbs, you have to pay alot of attention on them, quite similar to the storage of the grains.

kgar

Hi there, it really depends in what climate you live in. I have a clinic in tropical north queensland Australia, and I have a problem with mould and spoilage. The answer is to either invest in a lot of silica crystals and keep everything stored in airtight glass jars. Or what I do is keep them in plastic containers (like icecream containers) in drawers and have an airconditioner. As airconditioners dehumidify the air and are far cheaper than an actual dehumidifier. I keep the more expensive herbs in glass jars though, like ren shen and tian ma and huang lian etc. In china, herbs are usually stored in plastic containers in drawers, or simply loose in the drawer itself. But generally the turnover of herb use is so high that they dont really have a chance to spoil. The more expensive herbs are kept in glass jars with sealed lids, generally. It depends whether its a little shop displaying herbs or a hospital dispensary that has thousands of prescriptions a month.
Its worth noting that some herbs should not be kept long term as for instance aristilochic acid can build up in some herbs over time. (I think this is the case with Xi Xin for instance) Of course, since herbs from China generally dont have a packing date noted on them who knows how old they are when you get them. Oh and generally you dont want the temperature in your herb room to be too high (say over 25C) as some herbs have a tendency to hatch insects if conditions are warm enough.
I package the herbs for my patients in paper bags, as they are being used quickly, if I have to post them or people want to buy larger quantities I package them in plastic bags sealed with a plastic sealer.
If you just have some herbs for personal use and you live in a humid environment and arent going to use them straight away, by all means keep them in the freezer.
Hope that helps...

kgar

[quote="Bun"]Hi there, it really depends in what climate you live in. I have a clinic in tropical north queensland Australia, and I have a problem with mould and spoilage. The answer is to either invest in a lot of silica crystals and keep everything stored in airtight glass jars. Or what I do is keep them in plastic containers (like icecream containers) in drawers and have an airconditioner. As airconditioners dehumidify the air and are far cheaper than an actual dehumidifier. I keep the more expensive herbs in glass jars though, like ren shen and tian ma and huang lian etc. In china, herbs are usually stored in plastic containers in drawers, or simply loose in the drawer itself. But generally the turnover of herb use is so high that they dont really have a chance to spoil. The more expensive herbs are kept in glass jars with sealed lids, generally. It depends whether its a little shop displaying herbs or a hospital dispensary that has thousands of prescriptions a month.
Its worth noting that some herbs should not be kept long term as for instance aristilochic acid can build up in some herbs over time. (I think this is the case with Xi Xin for instance) Of course, since herbs from China generally dont have a packing date noted on them who knows how old they are when you get them. Oh and generally you dont want the temperature in your herb room to be too high (say over 25C) as some herbs have a tendency to hatch insects if conditions are warm enough.
I package the herbs for my patients in paper bags, as they are being used quickly, if I have to post them or people want to buy larger quantities I package them in plastic bags sealed with a plastic sealer.
If you just have some herbs for personal use and you live in a humid environment and arent going to use them straight away, by all means keep them in the freezer.
Hope that helps...[/quote]

pretty good idea for using different plastics stuff, it will works this 90%