Do you use your freezer to preserve herbs, vegetables, or fruit? The freezer can be a powerful, overlooked method of preserving. I wrote an article for Vegetarian Times that appears this month in the July/August issue, all about preserving the good foods of summer by using the freezer. Pesto, peach puree, tomato soup — stash them away now for the winter! One of my favorite ingredients, a handful of fresh herbs from the garden, is one of the simplest things to preserve in the freezer, and I just learned a new, better way to freeze herbs: In oil!
I noticed a post at The Gardener's Eden (read it here) recommending that you freeze some herbs in oil. Why? Preserving herbs in oil reduces some of the browning and freezer burn that herbs can get in the freezer.
It's also a great way to have herbs ready immediately for winter stews, roasts, soups, and potato dishes. These dishes usually call for oil to start with, and so you can take a cube of frozen oil, herbs inside, out of the freezer and use this as the base of your dish. Cook the onions and garlic in this herb-infused oil and let the taste of herbs spread through your whole dish.
Given this use, the oil-and-freezer method of preservation works best with the tougher hard herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme, and oregano. These are all herbs that would probably be cooked when added to a dish.
Soft herbs such as mint, basil, lemon verbena, and dill are usually added raw to a dish, and they don't respond as well to this kind of preserving. Their fresh taste is changed in the freezer, and honestly, I don't usually choose to freeze these delicate sorts of herbs at all, with the exception of homemade basil pesto. (Although I have been meaning to try this parsley freezing method from master gardener Margaret Roach!) Some folks do freeze soft herbs in bags without any water or oil, which essentially preserves them by drying them out. I don't prefer the taste of dried mint and other herbs, so I just never do this.
• Read more on hard vs. soft herbs: Technique of the Week: FAQ about Herbs at Beyond Salmon (via Kalyn's excellent tutorial on dry-freezing herbs)
For me, the best use of the freezer when it comes to herbs is preserving hard herbs in oil or broth, although now I prefer oil. The aroma of the herbs really infuses the oil in the freezer, which is a bonus!
Here are some tips on preserving herbs in oil.
8 Steps for Freezing Herbs in Oil
- Choose firm, fresh herbs, ideally from the market or your own garden.
- If you wish, you can chop them fine. Or leave them in larger sprigs and leaves. Here I froze a combination of finely-chopped and whole herbs such as rosemary, fennel stalk, sage, and oregano.
- Pack the wells of ice cube trays about 2/3 full of herbs.
- You can mix up the herbs, too; think about freezing a bouquet garni of sage, thyme, and rosemary to add to winter roast chickens and potatoes!
- Pour extra-virgin olive oil or melted, unsalted butter over the herbs.
- Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
- Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.
- Don't forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside!
More on Preserving Herbs
• Two Ways To Freeze and Preserve Fresh Herbs
• Cubes & a Rack: Two Ways to Preserve Herbs for Winter
• Tips: Three Ways To Preserve Fresh Herbs
• Quick Tip: Save Leftover Herbs in Ice Cubes
(Images: Faith Durand)
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Please tell me I'm not the only one that looked at the first picture and thought they were pieces of a tasty herbed cheese...ha!
I second that, BABYGRACE :D Actually, my first thought after reading the article was wondering how long it would take before the Husband asks why I've put cheese in the freezer LOL!
I thought it was cheese too! But love this idea! So many great potential ideas for using!
Does it need to be frozen though? I keep several jars of fat and infused oils in my fridge and they solidify overnight. Would that be enough for this? Or is the process of freezing specifically important to the preservation of the herbal component?
What a fantastic idea!!! I will definately be doing this!!! Thanks for sharing.
This is how I preserve garlic that's about to sprout on the counter--chop it up, freeze it in olive oil.
I used the Margaret Roach method for both parsley and basil last year and it worked great. The frozen basil is almost as good as fresh in tomato sauce in winter.
Salted butter and Dill are awesome to freeze together! Also when putting the cubes in the plastic bags add the date that you made it, just a thought! Great post! Never thought of using oil!
@Gleeseed - If your using it before it goes rancid than no! But if you want the fresh herbs in February and you make it in July, ehhhh, could be a little...ucky! lol
this is genius - seriously! I can't tell you how many bunches of thyme and rosemary has gone to waste because I only needed one sprig for a recipe.
www.blogcurator.blogspot.com
Thanks so much! I grow more herbs than I can use in the summer and I end up giving most of them away. I've been freezing basil leaves by themselves in plastic bags for awhile, but this is a good idea since I always use them with oil or butter anyway.
Thank you so much for the tip! I am working with my first ever herb garden this year, and hadn't had much luck with my first attempts at drying herbs. This looks like a great alternative for preserving what I've grown. I'm afraid that this tip comes a bit too late for my basil, this year, though. Does anyone know if the basil that's still out on my balcony is still any good after all of these record high temperatures?
Same trick my nonna used. Great.
Fabulous idea! I've been freezing herbs in water, which works pretty well, but I definitely like this as an alternative.
I always freeze my rosemary and thyme dry, but I love doing this for chopped basil. Makes it so easy to drop into a sauce!
brilliant. inspired!
This is a great idea!!! I do have to say that in Greek cooking, mint and dill are always cooked in a dish, so I think this method would work well for mint and dill, too (I cook mostly Greek food). I do store chopped fresh parsley, dill and mint in the freezer in bags and don't find that the herbs 'dry out'. I use them in my Greek dishes, in omelettes and even in uncooked salads and they still taste good.
Nhamy nhamy!
I use this method as well as making pestos, or compound butters and freeze them. Also I blanch, shock, drain and chop herbs and put them in ice cube trays with no oil, for recipes that don't need the oil.
so this will stop herbs from from going black in the freezer?
@Gleeseed- Another risk with oil infusions that aren't properly stored is botulism. The bacteria that causes botulism is slowed down by refrigeration, but not stopped, so I would only leave it in the fridge a few days. This link has a lot of good information through the University Extension, where I get most of my food safety information (every state has one).
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy487
So, someone told me that if I have too much garlic, that I should store it in oil in the freezer (rather than the fridge because of botulism). I had inherited a huge bag of peeled garlic, and since I couldn't use it all fast enough I minced it all in my food processor, poured it into a large Tupperware container with oil, and froze it.
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.
Do you know how hard it is to chisel a chunk out? Anyway, I need to know—can I thaw the whole block and refreeze them in ice cube trays, or is it like meat where you shouldn't refreeze it again?
I don't know what to do.
So... How do you use them? They got oil on them...