freezing herbs

[leftie]

hi I have heard that herbs like basil can be frozen but I was just wondering how to do this

[Alice]

Helllo Leftie and welcome to the Vine. I freeze my herbs rather than dry them as they keep their flavour much better. Just prepare your herbs as you want to use them (chopped up) . Spread them out in a layer on a tray and put the tray in the freezer. (Called open freezing). When the herbs are frozen, put them in a freezer box. They keep wonderfully well and come out freeflow - you can just take the box out and spoon out the amount you want and put the box back in the freezer, but do this quickly as they defrost very quickly.
The herbs are no use for garnishes, but excellent for cooking. Enjoy.

[Earthbabe]

Basil particularly keeps its flavour much better if frozen rather than dried.

[slow-worm]

Hi I wonder if anyone can help me, have got a lot of garden mint which i would like to bottle for later use.

[Alice]

I don't know how to bottle it slow worm - but you can freeze it by the method I've given above.

[rustylady]

You can also pack chopped herbs into ice cube trays, cover with a little water, and freeze. However, I like to use the free-flow method like Alice. Mint can be frozen, or made into mint jelly, mint sauce etc - depends what you want to use it for.

[Dobby]

great ider alice must give it a try
we need to get some cheap tubs for the freezer cheap but good quality any iders

[dexterdoglancashire]

Mint relish

From Preserving by Cordon Bleu:

2oz mint leaves
3/4pt white malt or white wine vinegar
1lb granulated sugar
2teaspoons salt
1teaspoon dry mustard
12oz stoned raisins
8pz peeled onions
8oz tomatoes, scalded and skinned
1lb apples, peeled and cored

Heat the vinegar in a pan add the sugar, salt and mustard. put the other ingredients in your food processor and chop finely. Add to the vinegar. Boil for 20 minutes, turn into warm, dry jars and seal.

Havent tried this, but my mouth is watering just reading the ingredients! Tried to find a recipe for just bottled mint but couldnt find one. Bernie

[Earthbabe]

Sounds yummy DDL, Another one to add to the list for the christmas basket!!

Hope you are all well at yours.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hi EB! Just had some of my last jar of your delish green tomato chutney with my lunch! Am growing loads more tomato plants this year so I can make some more. Bernie

[valmarg]

I bought a lot of parsley from the Bakewell Farmers' Market Saturday.

What I do with it is wash the bunches, cut off the base of the plants, trim the tops from the stalks, wash it, then wash/spin in the salad spinner. I then chop the parsley in the food processor, turn it out on to kitchen paper to remove moisture. I then loosely spoon the chopped parsley into plastic tubs.

It works for parsley sauce, and also for parsley sprinkles on finished dishes.

Having seen the small, very, very expensive Birds Eye packs of frozen herbs, this method has to be better.

valmarg

[Earthbabe]

I know what you mean about the frozen packs valmarg and this method has the added advantage of using up some of the yogurt pots that I can't get anyone to take. I'll do that with the marjoram I think.

[moggssue]

Like dobby, I'd be interested to hear any ideas for cheap ('recycled'?) containers to use for herbs in the freezer? And what sort of quantity do you use in cooking, the same as for bought dried ones?

[valmarg]

Earthbabe, I also freeze chives out of the garden. Cut the plants back to ground level, while the growth is still young, wash it, dry on kitchen paper then snip with scissors into pots, and freeze.

moggsue, regarding quantities of frozen, as opposed to dried herbs. Most recipe books recommend twice the amount of fresh to dried, because drying concentrates the flavour. Home freezing does seem to retain more flavour, so you may not need as much as double the dried. Add gradually, to taste. You can always add more, but if you've added too much, you can't take it away.

With regard to recyclable containers, margarine tubs, yoghurt pots etc should be fine. The Poundland, Poundstretcher, Aldi, Lidle and Netto stores often have some very good offers on plastic containers. Woolworths have some very good offers as well.

valmarg

[Earthbabe]

Or find a take away restaurant that serves in plastic tubs, if you are feeling flush.