preserving herbs

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preserving herbs

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Madge

Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 97
Location: Rugby, Warks

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 07 8:59 pm Post subject: preserving herbs

Hello, I would be interested to hear people's views on the best way to preserve herbs. I've heard various theories - dry, freeze, freeze in ice cubes, preserve in oil. I have previously wasted so much of the herbs that I've grown because I've only used them in season, but could actually have used so much more if I'd picked and preserved them. I now have a large garden, which incorporates a herb patch. As such, I would also be interested to hear how to preserve them best so that I can pass on excess to others. At the moment I particularly have excess basil - which is always a result as I tend to fail abysmally with basil:? .

Kinnopio

Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 356

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 07 9:13 pm Post subject:

I always think the tastiest thing to do with basil is to make it into pesto (I'm growing basil specifically for this purpose) - according to the book 'Preserved' this should keep in the fridge for up to two weeks or six months if you freeze it.

Delicate herbs such as basil, parsley and coriander don't dry well, if you only want to preserve them long enough to pass on to friends (and to give your friends a real treat) you could make nice oily sauces such as pesto or maybe salse verde.

Woodier herbs such as bay, rosemary and thyme dry well.

I've never tried freezing herbs but reckon it would work well on the more delicate herbs if you just want to drop them into a sauce to flavour it at the end (such as coriander in a curry).

sneeuwklokje

Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 277

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 07 9:40 pm Post subject:
Could you fill an ice cube try with water and chopped herbs? It's worked fine for me before with parsley, but that might just have been luck.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 07 9:06 am Post subject:

sneeuwklokje wrote:

Could you fill an ice cube try with water and chopped herbs? It's worked fine for me before with parsley, but that might just have been luck.

With the curly parsley, I just wash and dry it and then put it in a bag in the freezer. When I need some, I break off a frozen chunk. It's useless for anything that needs to look nice, but fine for cooking.

Chives you can snip into pieces, open freeze and then bag, but for the couple of months that chives are not available in the garden, it's possibly not worth the effort.

The woody herbs tend to be available all winter in my garden - the sage and thyme can look a bit sad, but there is usually enough to pick for cooking.
Jellies are another nice way to preserve herbs - make a strong "tea" and add this to your pectin and sugar.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 07 9:55 am Post subject:

Basil, and parsley I freeze. Put on trays in the freezer, crunched up and bagged when solid. I freeze coriander too, but keep that whole, as the leaves and stems are sometimes used differently. The leaves get all broken in the freezer anyway.

Sage I dry; I can pick it fresh all winter if need be, but dried is good, and the plants do seem to sulk until Summer. Simple enough, either dry it or hang it.

Chives I don't use in winter, but I keep Welsh onions in the garden and use them instead. They sulk a bit through winter, but they're still useable.

Rosemary and thyme over-winter fine in the garden.

Marjoram and oregano sulk terribly through winter, but theres always enough to pick some shoots to use. I freeze some too, but I'm not convinced that frozen is that good.

welsh lamb

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 409
Location: Gwynedd

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 07 5:52 pm Post subject:
I save small jars & make loads of mint sauce which lasts months

Madge

Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 97
Location: Rugby, Warks

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 07 9:09 pm Post subject:
What does 'sulking' mean in this context? Also, what are the best conditions for growing Basil? I thought I was doing really well with my latest batch, until I got home tonight and half of one (out of two) plants is withering. Is there any that can be grown outside?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 07 7:29 am Post subject:

Madge wrote:

What does 'sulking' mean in this context?

Some plants just don't do a great deal through winter, they look a bit messy if you don't cut them back and just seem to look miserable. You could be tempted to prune them back, but if you do that you won't have much to eat through winter, so instead I just put up with them looking miserable, like they're sulking.

Quote:

Also, what are the best conditions for growing Basil? I thought I was doing really well with my latest batch, until I got home tonight and half of one (out of two) plants is withering. Is there any that can be grown outside?

Start 'em off inside, on a warm sunny windowledge. Put them outside (after careful hardening off) only in summer when its good and warm, and you'll have no problems (other than aphids, usually). Keep picking off flower heads, cut and freeze whats left when it gets cold.

Never had any of them do particularly badly when treated that way; some of the basil seed mixes are quite fun, one mix from Nickys Nursery called 'spice boys' is very aromatic.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 07 9:15 am Post subject:

Madge wrote:

Basil needs warm nights as well as days if it is to do well. It is still a bit parky at night (well it is here!). I wouldn't even think of planting basil out until at least June.
That reminds me..... must sow some basil!

bernie-woman

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 07 11:18 am Post subject:

judith wrote:

parky

Great word judith - reminded me of my grandad - he used to use that all of the time

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 07 12:01 pm Post subject:

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