I usually use a small bowl, but yeah - this works great! For something with lots of stem, like cilantro, I hold the bunch by it's stems and snip straight into whatever I'm putting it in. Kind of depends on what herb your using, and how you're using it.

Honestly, a knife and cutting board does the same thing.

I think a knife + cutting board is a lot quicker than having to catch the leaves/stems between the scissor blades.

And you can definitely mince the leaves finer.

I disagree about the knife and cutting board comments above. It's totally a hassle having the herbs go everywhere. I think this is a fab idea. It's nice to have an alternative! Thanks!

I use a sharp knife and a cutting board. I don't understand how or why herbs are going everywhere. My herbs don't go everywhere. In fact, they tend to stick to the board and knife.

If your herbs are going everywhere, surely then your knife is going everywhere too? Are you chopping herbs like a maniac?

Well I think it's genius!

this is exactly how my french grandmother chops parsley!

I always use scissors for cutting herbs.

Slice, don't hack! So long as you aren't whacking at the herbs with a dull knife a board and blade ought to be fine. A sharp scissors in a tall glass works well, too.

The best method is the one that works for you :)

I think it mostly depends on the cook and partly on the herb. Rosemary is more likely to spring away and make a mess than cilantro but knifing technique can balance that.

Preference: it's why we have options! :D

I'm one who's herbs go everywhere. I'm def. going to have to try this. Thanks!

Usually the board & knife will do the trick but I very much like the idea of snippin' directly into the pot. -Thanks, xtalcase, don't know why I have never though of that before!

I love this idea :) But I am more comfortable with just snipping a whole bunch of herbs with a sharp kitchen shear. No clean up at all :D

I always do this. My problem with using a board and knife is that it's sometimes a mess and a pain to get the herbs off the board into what I'm cooking. They stick to the board, they stick to my hands, half of them end up getting washed down the drain.

Cutting them up in a glass cuts down on this!

I always snip them right over whatever bowl or pot they're supposed to end up in.

"My herbs don't go everywhere. In fact, they tend to stick to the board and knife." That's why people ship with shears!
A knife and board can be messier due to scattered herbs or to herbs (especially freshly washed ones) sticking to the board or knife, and when finely cutting, the knife/board can be dangerous.

just use a knife. should also be easier for arthritis patients also....but then again that's what a chopper is for.

i thought i discovered this...

i chop small amounts of herbs in a round-bottomed egg cup, works like a charm for some of those difficult small-leaved herbs like thyme.

I know this is a silly thing to comment on, and maybe this is nothing new, but I just wanted to say how happy I was to see you use the word "I" to refer to yourself instead of "we"!

Also a very cool idea I'll be trying out this evening.

Brilliant! No more hunting for flyaway herbs all over the countertop and kitchen floor!

My mom used to cut her herbs like this! Be carefull though, one time I did this and broke the bottom of the glass!

Thats what I used to do as a small kid- you know before you can be trusted with the big knife. Now I find using a good knife faster.

Kitchen scissors are a godsend. For snipping herbs (like others, I snip straight over the place they need to go) or chicken and steak for stir-fry. Knives for fruit and veg though!

not to brag ... but as our household is an ADA compliant stronghold, cutting up herbs, vegetables, hard butter, small frozen items, certain tablets with kitchen shears in a short tumbler, is something we've done for years. Kitchen shears are also good for getting little chunks of ice cream out of a frozen tub.Open the shears about an inch, stab down into ice cream, close shears. Repeat, cutting out a little block.

I'll always use one of my Japanese ceramic knives because the herbs won't brown from the metal and the arthritis in my hands makes it impossible for me to do that much snipping.

Actually, at this point even if I could use a metal knife or scissors I'd opt to use my ceramic knives because not only are they easier to use (sharper and lighter) but there's no possibility of anything browning from being in contact with metal.

i like this for some things - especially parsley and cilantro where i am lazy and just pull the leaves off the stems and move on. but other things, like basil, i love rolling up and chopping myself.

This makes sense for people with limited knife skills, but otherwise I agree with those who are in the corner of the knife and chopping board. I actually can't remember the last time I used kitchen shears, if ever.

How is it better? You'd have to wash the glass too. Skip it!

If I had already washed the chopping board but I need a bit of scallion for garnish, I would use the scissors directly over the dish.

Would freezing wet herbs for 30 mins and then smashing them while frozen reduce their taste and potency?

If you roll the herbs up tight and then slice them on the cutting board -- i.e. if you chiffonade them -- your results will be far more consistent than randomly snipping at something down there in the bottom of a glass, and the process won't take as long. Also, what a pain to have to find a way to scoop out the last bits of herb that will inevitably cling to the bottom and sides of the glass! This tip sounds like an efficient way to make extra work and waste time and food.

I barely used my kitchen shears before I had a baby; this is the exact method I use to turn whatever we're eating into baby food (older baby, not eating purees any more). Great idea to do this for herbs! Cutting up spaghetti for a kid who can't twirl a fork yet is a major pain, but not with shears!

My kitchen shears get a workout here, use them for many things. Never done it any other way, although I agree the glass seems more trouble than it's worth. Don't see the point. I, too, chop directly over the herb's desination. No muss, no fuss.

When dd hosted her first Thanksgiving dinner & I got stuck chopping herbs with a knife, I made sure she had kitchen shears tucked into her Christmas stocking. I let sil take the credit but dd secretly called the next day to say thanks & they got a workout during her Chrismas dinner prep.

On another note, my mom had rather severe arthritis & found the shears much easier to weild than a knife which she couldn't seem to keep a grip on in her later yrs.

I've always done mine with a knife and board (and had to scrape up everything that sticks) up until about a year ago; then my mother-in-law gave me something she'd been given and had no use for, and it was an epiphany. It was a pair of herb shears, which is basically a pair of scissors with 5 sets of blades (picture: http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/12/the-useful-things-herb-scissors-review/). I'm not one for gimmicky-looking things like that, but these have really been amazing. They cut so neatly and quickly, and I can do a big bunch of parsley or a big sprig of rosemary in seconds. I have a large herb garden, and freeze my surplus to use all winter and spring, so I hardly ever have to use dried herbs (except for the ones that don't grow well where I live). These things have been a godsend.