Sunday, October 10, 2010

It's Fall! What to Do With the Herbs?

My basil, thyme and rosemary grew awesomely this summer, but what to do now that it's getting cold?

The thyme is actually pretty hardy, so I will leave that out all winter and cut it back once it warms up again. The rosemary may or may not survive the winter, and I know the basil won't...so I started freezing what was out there.

I do have a few stalks of dried basil, but it's just not the same...those dry, shrivelled, brown leaves in my food? No thanks.

I stripped a bunch of basil leaves, chopped them in the food processor coarsely, and popped about a tablespoon in each compartment of an ice cube tray. I filled them up half way with water (until the leaves were just barely covered) and put them in the freezer.

basilCube

Once those were set, I put a little more water on top to completely cover, and finished the freezing process. Otherwise, the leaves float to the top and a bunch of them will be exposed and discolour. See what I did there?

I popped the cubes into a couple of freezer bags, labelled, of course (because, no matter how well you think you're going to remember, you won't), and when I need a tablespoon of fresh basil, I throw a cube into the pot and I'm good to go!

basilCube2

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