September 25, 2010 / Leslie

Weekend Cooking: Freezing Fresh Herbs

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

Gardening is one of my other hobbies and this weekend I’m preserving some of my harvest for use during the winter. The herb garden is plentiful right now but soon it will be too cold for the herbs to continue growing outside my door. September is when I start cutting them back and freezing them for winter while they are still at their full flavor. Although they may get a little limp and their texture may change, the flavor is preserved. They can also be dried but there is a loss in flavor compared to freezing.

I have successfully stored parsley, basil, oregano, sage and rosemary in my freezer. They will keep for 6 to 12 months. This year I’m adding tarragon but it’s a fussy herb and I’m not sure how well it will freeze.

Here are a few tips:

Pick them when they are at their prime, at the end of summer, so they retain the most flavor. Don’t wait until they are shivering in the cold.
Remove all the stems and keep just the leaves. Rinse and let them dry thoroughly.
Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer and put in the freezer for a few hours.
When frozen, transfer to a freezer baggie or small jar. I tried both ways, and both worked nicely. Labeling them made identification easier.
When freezing basil, I coat the leaves with oil and then place them directly in a baggie. This keeps the leaves from turning brown and preserves the flavor for a longer time. This works great for basil that’s being used in pesto or pasta sauce.

Herbs can be grown indoors if you have a sunny window. I grow basil and parsley in the garden window, and I dig up my rosemary bush and bring it inside, but that’s another story. Someday, I’ll get a greenhouse.