The Kitchen Ingredient Joanna Gaines Relies On To Preserve Flowers And Why

When it comes to interesting hobbies, Joanna Gaines definitely has a few. Not only does she garden, but Gaines also takes the colorful flowers she grows and preserves them. In a video shared to her Instagram, Gaines took her followers inside what she calls her herbarium, a place where she uses dried flowers to make her own decor pieces. She considers this space her library of what she has grown in her own garden each year. This behind-the-scenes look at where all of her floral magic happens included a chance to see how she preserves her flowers.

To dry her home-grown flowers, Gaines appears to use a tub of salt. In the video clip, she pulls out her preserving box, opens it up, and uncovers a pink rose that has been drying for two months. She explains that the rose "is totally dry, but it looks fresh and that's what I love about this kind of preserving."

It turns out that salt is actually an alternate drying agent for people looking to preserve flowers at home — you can use it instead of silica gel, which is often used as a drying agent. The reason salt works is because it pulls the moisture out of the flowers, while the color remains behind. Unlike some methods for drying florals, this process does take more time. So if you're trying to preserve flowers, this method is effective, but it does require patience and a space for the salt-covered flowers to sit and dry.

If you want to channel your inner Joanna Gaines and preserve the gorgeous flowers you grew yourself, then you may want to give the salt method a try. You'll want to use a fine salt, such as kosher salt or non-iodized table salt, for this project. Similar to using other drying agents, you'll want to fill a container with a lid so that there is a thick layer of salt at the bottom to lay your flowers on. Make sure your flowers are cleaned up and any unnecessary foliage has been removed before starting the drying process. Once you've laid out the florals over the bed of salt, you need to add another layer of salt over the top. Just be mindful of how you are adding the salt, as you want to be gentle with this step to avoid crushing the flowers.

Gaines covered her container and left it in a space that was dry and warm to allow the moisture time to be pulled from the flowers. Although she left hers for two months, other recommendations seem to suggest that it will take up to two weeks for your flowers to dry. After you have left them to dry for at least a week, you can check your flowers to see if they feel dry to the touch. Give them more time in the salt if they're not completely dry.

Once the florals have dried, you will want to carefully brush off the salt so that you can use them in projects or display them. One thing to note is that sometimes the salt can clump around the petals, so you may need to carefully chip away at the clump. Removing the salt can damage your florals, so take it slow during this step.