Do you love cooking with fresh herbs? The taste is wonderful and the aroma is always inspiring. It is simple to use fresh herb plants too. You can always clip off what you need and mix in with the rest of your ingredients for a fresh flavor you’ll love.
But what do you do when it is winter and fresh herbs are few and far between?
Freezing is much better for an herb than drying and it is much simpler. Just plant the herb plants, clip your herbs and put your herbs in a freezer bag. You don’t have to do anything special to prepare your herbs for freezing, other than rinsing them. Even after they are frozen, you will not have to dice them to cook with them.
If you do want them measured before you freeze them, you can chop them up and freeze them in ice trays. Just fill each compartment of the ice cube tray almost to the top with chopped basil or whatever other plant you want to freeze and add water. Put these cubes into the freezer bags and later, when you’re ready add a few cubes into your soups, stews and other dishes.
If you want to experiment with freezing herb plants, these are some good ones to start with:
- Basil: Once you harvest your basil, cut the stem just before the buds, remove the leaves and dry your herbs. Put the dried foliage into a jar so that you can use them later on. If you don’t have much time, just take the foliage and put them into a freezer bag and stick them in your freezer to keep them fresh. You can even put your herbs in a container and cover your herbs with oil, which will bring out the taste. You can keep your herbs this way for several months.
- Parsley: It is not just a pretty garnish; you can use parsley in any Italian dish. Parsley will work well in almost any Italian dish. Nobody appreciates parsley for it’s positive features. It cannot help it if the other Italian herb plants (like oregano, basil and garlic) have stronger, more memorable tastes. Parsley works hard to help other herbs taste better. Add it into any meal (usually near the end of the cooking process) and parsley will make the rest of the herb plants that much better. I generally take the leaves and put them into a freezer bag, put the bags on the shelf of my freezer and then put a box of vegetables on top of themto freeze your herbs flat. When you’re ready to use them, just crunch the bag up in your hand and they are instantly diced.
- French Tarragon: If you plan to over-winter your French tarragon herb, be sure not to clip it back too much. Of course it’s better to use the leaves fresh, but you can tuck some of these leaves into a freezer bag and they will get you through the winter. Add your herbs to your chicken or fish meals. It is nice for creating vinegars, cream sauces and mustards.
Be sure to write the name of the plant on the freezer bag so that when you bring it out of the freezer you’ll know what it is.
Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.
Here is more information on Italian Herb Garden. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.
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