Author Topic: Fresh Herb Suggestions  (Read 5629 times)

rujancified

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Fresh Herb Suggestions
« on: July 30, 2014, 10:13:58 AM »
We planted (what we intended to be a small) herb garden earlier this year and it's absolutely flourishing. I have two large packets of parsley already frozen, alongside a quart sized container of pesto from the basil. I have plans to make compound butters and freeze those.

We have an overabundance of: basil, parsley, oregano, chives, thyme, & rosemary. Does anyone know if there's anything in that list that I shouldn't freeze?

Anyone have any recipes to share? We are meat eaters of all kinds, so don't hold back. Thanks in advance!


Spork

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Re: Fresh Herbs Suggestions
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2014, 10:16:52 AM »
slightly off topic... and probably a little late since you said you already made a quart of pesto...  Wifey makes pesto in ice cube trays, then pops them out and freezes them in a big ziplock bag.  That makes it easy to dole out one or two cubes of the stuff to put in soups, etc.

mrsggrowsveg

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2014, 10:51:31 AM »
We generally don't freeze our basil or rosemary.  We dry it and put it in little spice jars.

rujancified

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Re: Fresh Herbs Suggestions
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2014, 11:28:42 AM »
slightly off topic... and probably a little late since you said you already made a quart of pesto...  Wifey makes pesto in ice cube trays, then pops them out and freezes them in a big ziplock bag.  That makes it easy to dole out one or two cubes of the stuff to put in soups, etc.

There is PLENTY more basil and this is a great idea! I cannot stop the basil from growing, which is a wonderful problem to have, of course.

rujancified

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2014, 11:30:13 AM »
We generally don't freeze our basil or rosemary.  We dry it and put it in little spice jars.

We have ~15 of those small/flatish mason jars that would be perfect for this. Now to LOCATE said mason jars...

horsepoor

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2014, 11:47:21 AM »
For the parsley:  chimichurri.  Also, tabbouleh.

frugalnacho

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2014, 11:49:20 AM »
Currently drying oregano, basil, and chives in my kitchen.  I will jar them in glass jars once they are dry enough.  I only harvested about 1/10 of each plant and should have more than enough to last me a couple years.  I will harvest a little more and throw the rest in the compost.  I find one plant of any herb is more than enough.

Goldielocks

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2014, 11:50:12 AM »
Try freezing the leafy herbs in small amounts of butter -- that you pop out of the freezer and add directly to your veggies, or meals, or ??

I find the leafy bits can be limp and turn brown when frozen.   I tend to dry as much as possible instead, or make up mixtures like pesto.

Threshkin

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2014, 05:08:40 PM »
Currently drying oregano, basil, and chives in my kitchen.  I will jar them in glass jars once they are dry enough.  I only harvested about 1/10 of each plant and should have more than enough to last me a couple years.  I will harvest a little more and throw the rest in the compost.  I find one plant of any herb is more than enough.

Why not share the bounty with your friends and neighbors?

rujancified

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2014, 07:34:33 AM »
Currently drying oregano, basil, and chives in my kitchen.  I will jar them in glass jars once they are dry enough.  I only harvested about 1/10 of each plant and should have more than enough to last me a couple years.  I will harvest a little more and throw the rest in the compost.  I find one plant of any herb is more than enough.

Why not share the bounty with your friends and neighbors?

If anyone is in the Charlotte, NC area, hit me up. I've already given away a gallon-sized bag of basil to friends, but most of my cook friends have their own herb gardens.

Basenji

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #10 on: July 31, 2014, 07:40:32 AM »
Dry the oregano, thyme, and rosemary. Freeze the basil and chives chopped up with oil to protect it. Parsley, eat it up, eat it like a salad green, throw it on everything, it's healthy and best fresh. Then give some as presents, herbs are so expensive people who cook will love it. For basil, I don't make pesto only, I do basil and olive oil in ice cube trays, pop them out and I have more flexibility in how I can use the basil. For Thai basil I freeze it with a neutral oil to use in Asian recipes.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2014, 07:42:08 AM by Basenji »

frugalnacho

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2014, 08:18:32 AM »
Currently drying oregano, basil, and chives in my kitchen.  I will jar them in glass jars once they are dry enough.  I only harvested about 1/10 of each plant and should have more than enough to last me a couple years.  I will harvest a little more and throw the rest in the compost.  I find one plant of any herb is more than enough.

Why not share the bounty with your friends and neighbors?

I have offered to several but they don't seem to want it.  They are willing to take tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and such, but no one seems very interested in my herbs.  If anyone in michigan wants some spicy oregano or basil stop on by.

Threshkin

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #12 on: July 31, 2014, 09:34:08 AM »
I have offered to several but they don't seem to want it.  They are willing to take tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and such, but no one seems very interested in my herbs.  If anyone in michigan wants some spicy oregano or basil stop on by.

Shameless request - If anyone in Northern Colorado has extra herbs they want to give away we will take any and/or all you have!

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2014, 10:02:28 AM »
Rosemary in particular is supposed to be quite good as an herb salt. Haven't tried it myself.

Thyme is an evergreen so if you like it fresh in certain things, it will be available through the winter.

I'm still learning about herb gardens myself.

Suggestions on the best way to harvest basil? I have some small leafed plants that are getting established, and some larger leaf Genovese type still in the seed flats. Leaf by leaf or do you trim whole sections of the plant off?

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2014, 10:03:48 AM »
Also, any of those herbs infused in decent olive oil would make a great holiday gift that's quite frugal. I love herbed oils for dipping and cooking.

rujancified

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #15 on: July 31, 2014, 10:14:20 AM »
Rosemary in particular is supposed to be quite good as an herb salt. Haven't tried it myself.

Thyme is an evergreen so if you like it fresh in certain things, it will be available through the winter.

I'm still learning about herb gardens myself.

Suggestions on the best way to harvest basil? I have some small leafed plants that are getting established, and some larger leaf Genovese type still in the seed flats. Leaf by leaf or do you trim whole sections of the plant off?

I won't pretend to know everything about the basil, but we've been cutting back the tallest stalks when they got taller than 10-14 inches. At first, we didn't know anything and ended up with a 3 foot plant. I cannot locate the link now, but I read a site saying that letting it get too tall was a big no-no.

We cut it way back twice (pesto + gave some to a friend), I did a small trim yesterday (~2-3 cups of leaves that I'll dry) and I've been pulling leaves here and there for recipes. I have one entire stalk that I accidentally killed by cutting off all the off-shoots, which was a good lesson.

We're planning on garlic next year as well. Tried it this year, but were too late for planting.

frugalnacho

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #16 on: July 31, 2014, 11:05:28 AM »
Rosemary in particular is supposed to be quite good as an herb salt. Haven't tried it myself.

Thyme is an evergreen so if you like it fresh in certain things, it will be available through the winter.

I'm still learning about herb gardens myself.

Suggestions on the best way to harvest basil? I have some small leafed plants that are getting established, and some larger leaf Genovese type still in the seed flats. Leaf by leaf or do you trim whole sections of the plant off?

Basil gets large and goes to flower quick.  I have read that you don't want to allow it to flower, so pinch off all the tops before they flower.  I can never seem to get to mine before they flower and I haven't noticed a change in taste though (I do pinch off and discard flowering tops whenever I see them).  Pinching off the dominate top will cause the 2 sub "tops" below it to become dominate tops and grow up.  After a few pinches you will have a very bushy basil plant with seemingly thousands of "tops". 

I pick individual leaves, wash them all, then lay them out in the open with a little air circulation.  Right now I have 2 cooling racks on my kitchen table with basil leaves.  I will leave them their until they are dry and crispy.  Previously I have just stored them in a ziplock at that point and I take them out and crush them as needed.  This time I am going to store them in a mason jar so they don't accidentally get a little crushed like my bags have in previous years.

horsepoor

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #17 on: July 31, 2014, 12:09:00 PM »
Rosemary in particular is supposed to be quite good as an herb salt. Haven't tried it myself.

Thyme is an evergreen so if you like it fresh in certain things, it will be available through the winter.

I'm still learning about herb gardens myself.

Suggestions on the best way to harvest basil? I have some small leafed plants that are getting established, and some larger leaf Genovese type still in the seed flats. Leaf by leaf or do you trim whole sections of the plant off?

If you're doing a bit batch of pesto or something, you can cut the plants off so that there are a few leaves around the base remaining.  If you just want a few leaves for immediate use, then just pinch off what you need.  I usually just pinch the top couple inches off of a plant that looks like it's thinking about flowering when I just need a small amount of basil.  I mowed mine down and made pesto just a couple weeks ago, and they grew back to the point where I harvested two more bags full on Tuesday night.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #18 on: July 31, 2014, 04:31:10 PM »
Cool, good to know about the basil! I had a hard time getting my first batch to germinate, so I wanted to make sure I didn't incorrectly harvest the plants I've been waiting all season for. I love, love, love pesto but also want to experiment with fresh basil in other things.

nushagak

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #19 on: July 31, 2014, 04:47:11 PM »
Herbed Olive Oil Cubes FTW http://laurenconrad.com/blog/2013/08/herb-infused-olive-oil-cubes-recipe-rosemary-sage-lauren-conrad-august-2013/

As others have already mentioned you can certainly dry a bunch of herbs (rosemary, for example) - but this is a creative and very tasty way to preserve some.

Spork

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #20 on: August 05, 2014, 08:48:47 AM »

Heck... around here (the south) rosemary is year round.  Sure it's not as lush in the winter, but it's more lush than dried rosemary.  ... and it grows like a freaking weed.  Our one little 2" pot twig is now 4 ft tall and 6 ft around.  I accidentally pulled half of it out of the ground with the tractor a year ago (pulling a fence post behind it)... that damage has disappeared a year later.

Sorry... I'm off topic again.  But I love me the rosemary.

rujancified

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #21 on: August 05, 2014, 08:52:39 AM »
@Spork: Good to know about the rosemary - I won't worry about "harvesting" it if it's that hearty. I've been plucking some of it just to have the scent around the house.

eyesonthehorizon

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #22 on: August 05, 2014, 09:02:24 AM »
Just wanted to drop in with a tip about freezing in oil... Olive oil, being unsaturated, will get immediately slippery and gooshy the minute you get it warmed again past fridge temps - so make sure your cubes stay cold until you're really ready to use them.

For recipes where you don't want an olive taste, freezing in coconut oil would be a great way to go - it can be pricier but the creaminess is unmatched, and I think it'd be EXCEPTIONAL with basil or mint (oh, think of the desserts) for obvious flavor reasons. Plus, it's quite saturated, so the cubes will remain solid even into low room temperatures.

frugalnacho

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Re: Fresh Herb Suggestions
« Reply #23 on: August 05, 2014, 09:31:43 AM »
Coconut oil is solid below 77*F

 

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