Olive oil would not be what I would think of using in Mexican dishes. It looks similar to flat leaf Italian parsley, but it seems to be a lot more fragile. Wow, terrific ideas! Thanks so much Kevin. I stumbled back to bed. Waking up a couple of hours later, here we are! Enjoying immensely. Kevin, I have never frozen thyme or sage…….. I mix parsley and chives seperately with soft butter and freeze…………January has parsley butter on potatoes!
I do know that herbs preserved in fat…or oil etc, an emulsion taste herbier! I too freeze cilantro in ice cube trays. I process them in the food processor with a little olive oil. When my tomatoes and peppers are really producing like now I make big batches of salsa and drop cubes in the mix.
I am particular about the freshness of my salsa and knowing where my foods come from. After one cutting of my cilantro, I let the next batch go to seed.
It reseeds for me every year. I also process my basil this way and have yummy basil for soups and Italian dishes all winter long. I would have never thought to make those cigars… brilliance. Amazingly enough my sage is pretty fine through the winter… I throw a buncha fallen leaves on top of the plant and harvest the tender growth underneath… but the cigar method is definitely easier!!!
Basil harvest was abysmal this year. Waste nothing!!! Hi Kevin! I, too, would like your thoughts on preseving mint. Then place the frozen sprigs in a zip-lock-type bag, suck out air with a straw or vacuum seal , and freeze. Since the sprigs were first frozen individually, they will not stick together.
Mint — I grow mint under lights on my kitchen counter all winter long. But if you want to freeze this herb, do the following: set whole or chopped leaves in the cubes of an ice-cube tray. Fill the tray half-way with water. Just freeze as is for an hour or two. Then fill to the top with water, and freeze. The leaves, now fully submerged in a block of frozen water, will retain their amazing flavor.
Pop out the cubes and place them a freezer bag. When needed for a cocktail, simply drop the cube into your drink. Or, let the cube melt, and then use the leaves as fresh. Tarragon — Strip the leaves from a stem, and then freeze exactly as you would dill or mint.
Or, freeze the leaves as a cigar. Basil, sage, thyme, oregano, marjoram, and tarragon will all get frozen this year. Critters came and ate my parsley again! It works very well. That way my college daughter can keep some in her freezer and not have to think about keeping things like pine nuts in supply….
She always has cheese! Kevin, thanks especially for the tips on dill, tarragon and mint! Very helpful! I so enoy your blog, especially all the pictures and recipies.
As I read all the veggies that you freeze, all I can think is that you must have a big freezer. I picked up a dehyrator at a yard sale for ten dollars and dry many leaf greens and most of m herbs.
It only takes a few hours, to dry mosy herbs and greens to a dry crip and then I store it all in a glass jar and tightly closed the top, I mostly use glass maynoasie jars to store my herbs in, but sometimes I process so many I put them inthe giant glass pickle jars. I dry, spearmint and peppermint, the chives I do freeze, greek oreagno, thyme, and the time is easy… you dry it completey and then the leaves just fall off.
I also dry Swiss chard. I freeze some but I frow so much that I just dehydrate it. I use to save th ewhole dry leaves, know I crush them up to powedered form for soups and some sometimes I add the powder to bread dough for some extra nutrients.
WHen you poweder the vegetables as bok choy, kale, swiss chard and mustard greens you can store a lot of leaves in one regular size glass maynaise jar. But its great to have in the winter months. I store it all in dark cabinates or in the cool basement if I have extra jars.
Last year we had a bumper crop of tomatoes and we still had can tomatoes from the previous year so we dehydrated the tomotes, cherries, beef and he paste tomatoes. The past tomatoes worked the best but they all did taste good. We dehydrated huge glass pickle jars of them, and we still have more jars from last yearthat taste great.
We add them to soups, sandwiches, caseroles. SOme we marinated in Olive oil but we always hydrate tme before using them. My point is we could store all those tomaotes easily in there dried state. SoI do freeze some but mostly I can and dehydrate becasue of lack of freeze room and what happnes when you loose power?
In my neck of the woods that had happened once too often. Oh dear, I just read my post. I type way too fast and sooooooooooooo many typos. I hope you can read through all the typos and understand what I wrote! Vicki — Bummer about your parsley! What a good mom you are to make sure your daughter has ready-made pesto in her freezer.
Blake — I understood your post perfectly! I mkae thm all the tiem. Let me ask you — how large is your dehydrator? Hey Kevin, great tips! My lemon balm and lemon grass is growing quite well, any thoughts on preserving them?
I will definitely be having some frozen herbs in my freezer this year. My garden started out well but kind of fizzled, new beds, new garden area so it is a work in progress.
I have an outlet for some lovely horsey poo to put on the garden in the fall and turn in the spring so I expect next year to be better. It is a work in progress.
Thanks so much for all your tips and techniques, they have been uber helpful!! I look forward every Sunday to the newsletter. Love your personalized way of writing and all your timely and tasty ideas, Kevin! I make a couple big batches of pesto in the summer and freeze it, ready-to-use, in small containers plastic baby food cubes are great if you know someone with a toddler, but I also use spreadable cream cheese tubs.
This is so much more convenient for me than having to make it each time I need some. It thaws wonderfully with just a few seconds of microwaving.
Luckily, a few years ago I was able to invest in a very nice dehydrator which works constantly during harvest which leaves me room in the freezer for other things. We had a small freezer but gave it to the BIL for his fish catches.
That was nice of us, but now I need it! I grew borage this year and was wondering if it could be stored in the cigar method as well. I have also frozen chives and the chive flowers. They are easy to add to soups and egg salad this way. Thanks, Carla. I was admiring the picture of your Berggarten sage! I used to have some and I loved it!
Still looking…. Last year, I flash froze whole basil leaves not really sure why, but seemed like a good thing to do and then put them in zip bags. The nice thing is: crush the bags and you have crushed basil to use in any recipe! Easy to measure out of the bag, too! Just spoon it right out with the measuring spoon! Deb — What sweet words! Thank you. Lemongrass is a cinch to preserve. Slice it into smallish pieces say, inches each , and then flash-freeze on a cookie sheet. It will freeze very quickly.
Carla — Thank you for taking the time to post. Borage leaves and flowers can be frozen as for mint comment Jan — Thanks for the excellent basil-tip! Re dehydrator, eons ago I got one of the 5 tray round ones. I read quite a number of reviews and ended up with an Excalibur. And, I do, but the old one is slower and just not as great. Love dehydrating! And, I love how much less space the dried goodies take up! And, this saves freezer space also a premium around here. I grew rosemary and lavender.
Your blog is wonderful…like having a group of friends engaged in a conversation where everyone has the love of gardening in common. Thanks so much, Kevin. Hi Kevin, thanks for those tips. Place herbs in an ice cube tray, silicone ones work best. Fill each well with water, just enough to completely cover the herbs. Press the herbs into the water so they are fully submerged.
Remove the cubes from the tray and place in Ziploc bags labeled with each type of herb. Freeze for up to 3 months. Carefully drain the water and pat dry. How long do they last? They will last for about a year in the freezer, as long as they are stored in an airtight container. Using them? When the herbs are frozen in some oil they are most easily used in a soup or in a sauce. They will melt and provide the same flavor as fresh herbs. If you froze any herbs without oil then you can defrost them and sprinkle them on top of any dish you so desire!
Is it better to freeze herbs in water or oil? You can store them in either, if you are using oil I recommend using olive oil. If you are using oil they will be great for sauteing them later, if you are using water then they will be easier to defrost later on.
Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. I have not tried either of these methods. What I do is wash, dry, and chop the herbs and then freeze them in airtight small jars.
They always have the fresh flavor I want. However, I will try these methods with my next batch of harvested herbs. You're looking for the herbs to be brittle and dry. Cool Air: Wash then pat with a soft cloth to remove moisture. Layer a cookie sheet with paper towels and then arrange stems in a single layer. Place in the refrigerator and remove once they are completely dried check daily.
Does not work in crisper bins. Salt or Sugar: Layer fresh leaves between salt or sugar covering completely and leave them until they are desiccated. Sift them out and store in airtight containers. Choose salt or sugar depending on the flavor of the herb and which would be better suited to it. Ice Cubes: Chop then sprinkle into ice cube trays measure into each cube the most common amount you use in cooking, for example, 1 tsp. Cover with water and freeze can also cover with stock or olive oil.
Pop them out once they're frozen and then re-pack in bags remove as much air as possible from the bags first. When needed for cooking, just take out a cube and toss it in the dish that's cooking thawing first is optional-remember to account for the extra liquid in your recipe.
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