creative gardening

Today I planted herbs. I love herbs; they smell good, they add flavor and some of them keep away mosquitoes. I often end up with a lot of herbs that go to waste. Thanks to a friend of mine, she posted this and I'm saving it to my blog to use later this summer. Hopefully, I'll remember that I posted this and will use it in a couple of months.

Not only was this a great idea, but I learned a lot about herbs. I wondered why my basil never smelled as good dried. Well duh, dried it isn't as good.

While many herbs can successfully be dried for long-term storage, certain delicate herbs, such as parsley, basil and chives, lose many of their aromatic qualities when dried.

Herbs that are going to be used in culinary recipes can successfully be frozen for later use. This how to guide details the steps required to create herbal ice cubes. Herbal ice cubes can be dropped directly into stews, soups or sauces as they are being prepared. The herbal ice cubes will thaw out as the recipe finishes cooking.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 20 minutes

Necessary Supplies:

Scissors

Fresh herbs

Colander

Measuring cup

Ice cube trays

Water

Blender

Bowl

Spoon

Plastic freezer bags or plastic containers

Here's How:

1. Use a pair of scissors to cut stems of fresh herbs from the garden.
2. Place the herbs in a colander and gently rinse them under running water.
3. Remove the leaves from the stems and discard the stems.
4. Measure out the amount of leaves you have to process using a measuring cup. Place the leaves into the blender after they have been measured.
5. For each cup of packed, fresh herb material that is being used, add ¼ cup of water to the blender.
6. Place the lid on the blender and process the herbs into a fine paste.
7. Pour the herb paste into a bowl.
8. Use a spoon to fill each ice cube compartment with the herb paste.
9. Place the herb filled ice cube trays in the freezer and let set until frozen.
10. Remove the ice cube trays from the freezer. Remove the individual herbal ice cubes from the tray and put them into plastic freezer bags or plastic containers with tight fitting lids.

Tips:

The herbal ice cubes can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Herbs that freeze well using this method include basil, chervil, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, garlic chives, mint, parsley, tarragon and thyme.

Fresh herbs purchased from the produce section of grocery stores or farmer’s markets can also be processed into herbal ice cubes.

To use the frozen herbs, simply place the desired number of herbal ice cubes into the pan as the meal is being cooked. For example, 1-2 cubes of basil can be added to a pan of homemade tomato sauce.

Copyright Lynn Smythe Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

I found this on suite101.com

So what did I plant? I put in some chives, a couple of different types of basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary. If we don't get some rain soon, I'm not going to have to worry too much about drying them.