How to Store Lavender: Drying, Dried Buds and Freezing

Dry it. Culinary lavender is a flower crop, and the usual way to keep it is dried: growers bundle the stems, hang them to dry and store the buds to use through the rest of the year. Cut it when a quarter to half of the flowers on a spike are open, keep the buds whole in an airtight jar, and go easy when you cook with them, since dried buds are three times as concentrated as fresh flowers.¹ We found no source on keeping fresh stems or freezing them, so there we lean on general herb guidance and say so.

At a glance

Question	Short answer
Best way to keep it	Dry it, then store the buds.¹
When to cut for drying	The Herb Society of America’s practice: when 25% to 50% of the individual flowers on a spike are open.¹
How to dry	Small bundles hung in a dry, airy room, out of the sun.²³ Gentle warmth may keep more oil: see the 2020 study below.⁴
Container	Airtight, kept somewhere cool, dry and dark.²
Whole or crumbled?	Whole. Penn State says whole herbs hold their oils longer.³
How long dried	1 year to 1 to 3 years for dried herbs in general, depending on the source. None measured lavender.
Fresh stems	No lavender-specific guidance found. For fresh herbs in general, the Government of Canada says up to five days in the crisper.⁵
Lavender in oil	Refrigerate and use within 4 days, or freeze.⁶

When to cut lavender for storage

The Herb Society of America picks and bundles its culinary lavender when 25% to 50% of the corollas (the individual flowers) are open.¹ General herb guidance from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) and Penn State says to harvest most herbs for drying just before the flowers first open.²³ That’s written for leafy herbs, where you’re keeping the leaves. With lavender, the flower is the crop, so the Herb Society’s practice fits better.

You’ll often read that lavender buds have the most flavor while they’re still tightly closed. We found no measurement comparing flavor or oil content at different bud stages, so we can’t confirm it.

On time of day, the two extension sources differ slightly. Herbs carry more essential oil when picked on a sunny morning after the dew has dried, Penn State says.³ NCHFP says early morning, after the dew has dried, to limit wilting.²

For cooking, the Herb Society names Lavandula angustifolia, true lavender, as the most pleasant species to use.¹ More on species and flavor is on the lavender profile.

Drying lavender

Hanging bundles. Tie the stems into small bundles and hang them upside down to air-dry, in a dry spot with good airflow, away from the sink, stove or dishwasher. Keep the bunches small, because big ones mold. Drying indoors usually gives better color and flavor than drying outdoors.²

Dust. Cover the herbs with a paper bag with holes punched or torn in it, which keeps dust off and lets air through.

Gentle warmth. The one lavender-specific drying study we found compared two methods on L. angustifolia flowers grown in Poland in 2016 and 2017. The flowers were dried either in a drying oven with moving air at 35°C (95°F) or naturally in a shaded room at 20 to 22°C (68 to 72°F) for five days. The oven-dried flowers held much more essential oil:

Year and plot	Oven-dried, 35°C	Shaded room, 20 to 22°C
2016, irrigated	3.86	2.20
2016, not irrigated	3.70	1.73
2017, irrigated	3.83	2.11
2017, not irrigated	3.66	1.11

Essential oil per 100 g of dried flowers.⁴

Take the study with some care. The paper contradicts itself: the abstract gives the oven temperature as 30°C and calls the oil content “twice higher”, while the methods say 35°C and the discussion says 53% higher. The table labels its units mg per 100 g and the text says ml.⁴ It’s one study at one site over two seasons, and it doesn’t test the hotter oven or dehydrator settings used for other herbs.

Dehydrator. NCHFP’s general herb setting is 95°F to 115°F, up to 125°F in humid areas, for 1 to 4 hours.² Penn State gives 95°F to 110°F.³ Neither names lavender. The low end of both ranges, 95°F, is the same temperature as the study’s drying oven.

Oven. Penn State doesn’t recommend oven drying for herbs, saying even the lowest setting destroys much of the flavor.³

When it’s done. Herbs are dry when they crumble and the stems break when you bend them. The Herb Society then sifts its dried buds through mesh screens to get rid of dust and bits of plant.¹

For a step-by-step walk-through, see how to dry lavender.

Storing dried lavender

Put the dried buds in airtight containers and keep them somewhere cool, dry and dark. Airtight, vapor-proof containers stop dried herbs from picking up moisture from the air. Air, light, moisture and heat are what speed up flavor and color loss in dried herbs and spices, according to University of California Cooperative Extension.⁷

Keep the buds whole until you use them. Penn State prefers whole herbs because they hold their oils and flavor longer. You may read that handling dried lavender makes it release its oils. We found no source that tests that, but keeping buds whole and handling them only when you use them fits Penn State’s advice anyway.

If you keep dried herbs in the fridge or freezer, take the container out and let it warm up before you open it. Condensation can form when a cold container meets a warm kitchen, and the herbs can soak up that moisture.³ We couldn’t find a test of whether glass keeps lavender better than other airtight containers. Containers for spices covers what’s known in general.

How long dried lavender lasts

We couldn’t find a published shelf life measured on dried lavender. Here are the named numbers for dried herbs in general:

Source	What it covers	Figure
UC Cooperative Extension, 2002⁷	Ground spices and dried herbs, home storage	1 year
America’s Test Kitchen⁸	Ground spices and dried herbs, home storage	1 year
Penn State Extension⁹	Most dried herbs	about 1 year
McCormick¹⁰	Leafy herbs and most seasoning blends; a spice company’s own guidance	1 to 3 years

These are quality windows, not safety dates. McCormick defines shelf life as how long spices stay most aromatic.¹⁰ To check yours, crumble a little between your fingers and smell it, as America’s Test Kitchen suggests.⁸ If it still smells strong, it’s probably still potent.⁷

Fresh lavender stems

We found no named source on keeping fresh lavender stems. The usual tips, like standing the stems in a jar of water in the fridge or wrapping them in damp paper towels, haven’t been tested on lavender as far as we can tell.

The only general number for storing fresh herbs at home comes from the Government of Canada: store them unwashed, trim the stalk ends, put them in a resealable plastic bag and keep them in the crisper for up to five days.⁵ That advice doesn’t name lavender.

Freezing lavender

None of our sources tested freezing lavender, and Penn State’s list of herbs that freeze well doesn’t include it. Penn State’s general method for herbs is to half-fill an ice cube tray with water, add about a tablespoon of herbs to each section, and top the cubes up with water the next day. Frozen herbs go limp when thawed, it warns, and generally don’t make pretty garnishes.¹¹

Lavender in oil

Herbs kept in oil can cause botulism. Herbs are low-acid foods that can carry Clostridium botulinum, Oregon State University Extension explains, and oil creates an oxygen-free environment. Its rule for homemade herbs in oil: refrigerate and use within 4 days, or freeze for longer storage.⁶ Penn State gives 2 to 4 days in the fridge for oils made with fresh herbs.¹² For oils made with dried herbs, the two disagree:

Source	Dried herbs in oil
Oregon State University Extension⁶	Must be refrigerated and used within 4 days, or frozen
Penn State Extension¹²	Refrigerate for up to three months

We haven’t picked between them. Oregon State’s rule is the more cautious of the two.

Dried vs fresh in recipes

Dried lavender buds are three times as concentrated as fresh flowers, the Herb Society says, and lavender is best used in moderation.¹ See cooking with lavender and lavender substitutes.

Not yet measured

A shelf life for dried lavender, measured on lavender.
How fresh lavender stems keep in the refrigerator, in water or in towels.
Whether lavender freezes well.
Flavor or oil content by bud stage at harvest.
Glass against other airtight containers for dried lavender.

Paola Legarre, “Lavender in the Kitchen: Flavor Profiles Across Species and Cultivars”, The Herb Society of America Blog, 2025. blog.herbsociety.org · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
“Herbs” (drying), National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia. nchfp.uga.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Hirneisen, Zepp and LaBorde, “Let’s Preserve: Drying Herbs”, Penn State Extension, 2023. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Andrzej Sałata, “Supplementary irrigation and drying method affect the yield and essential oil content and composition of lavender flowers”, Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Hortorum Cultus, 2020. czasopisma.up.lublin.pl · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩² ↩³
“Food safety tips for fresh herbs”, Government of Canada (copy hosted by UC ANR). oc4h.ucanr.edu · Regulator ↩ ↩²
Raab and Woodburn, “Herbs and vegetables in oil” (SP 50-701), Oregon State University Extension Service, 2025. extension.oregonstate.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Add a Little Spice to Your Life! Part II, University of California Cooperative Extension. ucanr.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Keeping Spices and Dried Herbs Fresher Longer, America’s Test Kitchen. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
Stacy Reed, “Preserving Herbs by Drying”, Penn State Extension, 2024. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩
How Long Do Spices Last?, McCormick. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩ ↩²
Martha Zepp, “Freezing Herbs”, Penn State Extension, 2025. extension.psu.edu · Reference work ↩
Martha Zepp, “How to Safely Make Infused Oils”, Penn State Extension (copy hosted by UC ANR). ccfruitandnuts.ucanr.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²

How to Store Lavender: Drying, Dried Buds, Fresh Stems and Freezing