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Freezing Basil
Simple posting this time. Apparently a lot of people throw away their left-over herbs. Such a shame because basil (an other herbs) freezes so well, plus it’s great to always have fresh basil whenever you need it.
Here’s how I do it.
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I either grow my own basil or buy it in bulk at the market. So start out with a good bunch that’s still fresh. Give it a wash, dry it in a salad spinner (or use a paper towel to dab the excess liquid off) and then throw quite a bit in the food processor.
Drizzle some olive oil on top. Now this is a very important step, without the oil you’re basil will turn black.
You don’t want to drown the basil, just make sure you use enough oil to coat the basil, somewhere between 1 tsp and 1 tbsp will do (depending on how much basil you use, of course). Pulsate roughly 10 times until the basil is coarsely chopped. Now they’re ready for freezing.
I have these little containers I always use to store frozen herbs, but a small ziploc bag works just as well. Another option is mix the basil with oil, blitz it a little longer and freeze it in ice cube trays, that way you always have small portions on hand to spice up soups and sauces. I prefer the small containers, though.
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Yay, I was just thinking what to do with my left-over basil because I didn’t want it to go to waste. I decided to check your blog because I thought you must have said something about freezing herbs. Thank you :-D
I love the little containers you use. Are they dutch? I know this has nothing to do with freezing basil but…. I noticed your knife you used in the green bean post on Ree’s bog. What kind is it? My husband is getting me new knives for Christmas as mine were a wedding gift 18 years ago and were substandard even then. We don’t have much locally (town is 60 miles away) as we live in the interior of Alaska. Gouda… I love that town and cheese. We lived in Germany when I was a child in the 70′s and visited the Netherlands. As a young adult I dated a young man from the Netherlands. Actually we had more of a long distance relationship which fizzled over time. We were young, I was in Denver and he in Kokange so…
I really enjoy your blog!!!
Peggy, I honestly couldn’t tell you if they’re typically Dutch. You can buy them everywhere here, they’re super easy because you can transfer them from the freeze straight to the microwave.
I’m using a Santoku knife like Ree does, only my knife comes with a special message. I made a posting about it here.
Gouda is so beautiful and old, and quite honestly … I love the cheese as well :)
I froze a lot of thyme from my garden. Just washed it and when it was dry, left it on the stems and put it in a zip lock. When I need some I just pull out a few stems and drop them as is into soup etc. I chopped up all my chives before the ground froze and put that in the freezer too. Didn’t have that much basil left so just made pesto! I don’t get enough sunshine into my house to grow pots inside in the winter or i would do that!