whoose, there are many variations on the harvest theme. For a home garden, this is the basic process I started with.
(1) harvest on a dry day. let them lie in the shade for an hour or two and then brush off the dirt very gently. Handle them very carefully as they are easily bruised.
(2) Bring them in, spread them out on a screen with all their roots and greens intact, or if a screen is not available, on some dry paper in a cool and dry place where they don't get direct sunlight. Or alternative, you can bundle them and hang them to dry. You can trim back the tops and roots as they dry down (I often trim to 8 inch stem/ 1 inch roots after the first week), or leave as is. If the environment is damp trimming is helpful. Trimming is also a good excuse to move them gently around, make sure they dry evenly, and remove any damp mess of drying leaves. The drying down takes about three weeks, and then they can be cleaned up and trimmed to final size.
(3) Place them upsidedown in a rack or laid on a screen for another 3-4 weeks to cure.
Nowadays I like to strip them down to a clean wrapper on the day they are harvested. I keep the remaining greens on and hang them in bundles.
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