If you grow your own herbs, you may enjoy the fresh leaves or flowers in herbal teas, but it's easy to dry them and make them into herbal tea sachets to give as gifts. Dried herbs are more concentrated in taste, since they contain no moisture, so you'll need fewer dried herbs than you would fresh. Store the dried herbs separately in jars until you make the sachets, to retain their individual flavor.

Materials Needed:

• 6 squares of cheesecloth measuring 7" x 7"
• 12 tsp. dried herbs
• 6 pieces of twine or recycled string
• recycled cardboard box lined with layers of recycled tissue paper and a remnant of fabric

Step 1

Tip the dried herb of your choice out of its storage jar, and gently crumble the leaves or flower heads.

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Step 2

Arrange two teaspoons of the dried herb in the middle of one of the cheesecloth squares.

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Step 3

Gather the edges of the cloth square into the center, wrap the piece of twine around the top of the sachet and secure firmly in a bow.

Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - A Greener Christmas © 2008 Dorling Kindersley Limited