Herbal raw materials have accompanied humans since the dawn of time. Owing to the rapid development of chemical industry, herbs have lost their importance as medicines. Currently there is a renewed interest in herbs applied to treat and prevent many diseases. Fresh herbal raw materials are unstable because of the high water  content (80 ÷ 90 %). The most common method of preservation is drying. There are applied both the natural and  the thermal methods. Dielectric and infrared drying are used less frequently. The effect of drying process on the  content of biological compounds is inconclusive and it depends on the herbal material, therefore it is important to  choose an appropriate method and parameters to enable a high retention of active compounds. The objective of  the research study was to assess the effect of drying method (freeze-drying, convection drying at 50 ºC, natural  drying) on antioxidant properties of stems and leaves of basil, mint and parsley. Determined on the basis of the  ability to reduce iron ions (FRAP), the highest antioxidant activity was reported in the case of water extracts of the  freeze-dried mint, and it was 3825 mM Fe²⁺/g d.m. As for the DPPH^• free radical method, the highest anti-radical  activity was reported in the case of water extracts of freeze-dried basil (72 %). Of the fresh herbs, parsley  was reported to have the lowest antioxidant activity determined both by the FRAP method and the DPPH^• free  radical assay (135 mM Fe²⁺/g d.m. and 3 %, respectively).