Fresh herbs vs dry herbs

[d4221]

I just got my first smoker, a WSM, so I'm new to smoking.  But I've been cooking and gardening and growing fresh herbs for a while.  It seems most of the recipes I see for rubs, sauces, brines, etc, call for the use of dry herbs instead of fresh herbs.  I've especially seen this in recipes for sausage making.  Is there a reason dry herbs are used instead of fresh?  Do fresh herbs affect the way the foods absorb smoke?  Is it the fact you typically need double the volume of fresh instead of dry and that amount of fresh herbs may not be visually appealing?  Or is it simply that dry herbs are more readily available?  Thanks for your insight.

 

[dish]

I personally use dry for the convenience.  Other then that I wouldn't think there would be much of a difference.

 

[worktogthr]

I think in a lot of rub recipes, dry herbs are used because they could withstand heat more without burning especially during direct grilling.  

 

[dish]

That could be true.

 

[Bearcarver]

I would agree that the biggest reason is availability.

However the general rule of thumb is "One TBS of Fresh herbs is equal to One tsp of Dry herbs", or 3 to 1.

Also, I was once told "If you're going to cook something for more than 15 minutes, use Dry Herbs."

Bear

 

[dish]

I didn't know that Bear.  Learn something every day at SMF