Rachel Ray Just Taught Me the Easiest Secret to Making Fresh Herbs Last 10x Longer

When I was a kid, I’d faithfully flip through two channels: Cartoon Network and the Food Network. While taking breaks from Ed, Edd n Eddy, I’d jump to watching 30 Minute Meals, dissecting how Rachael Ray effortlessly put delicious-looking dishes on the table. Recently I stumbled across the celebrity chef sharing her favorite tip for keeping herbs fresh for longer, and it gave me a subtle reminder of why she’ll always be one of the greatest chefs.

In a snippet from the show Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes posted to her Instagram, she teaches her fans how to make a delicious-looking Lucca-style pesto pasta inspired by her travels to Tuscany. But perhaps the most valuable gem she drops in that clip involves an ingenious tip for preserving basil.

“When you bring basil home from the store, never ever, just throw it in the fridge,” Ray said in an episode of Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes. “You will kill it, it will turn black, and you’ll have a very short life for the basil.”

If you’ve ever cooked with fresh herbs, you’ve probably experienced this: You buy a bunch of basil, and by the next day it’s completely spoiled. To prevent this, Ray recommends storing fresh basil in a wide jar filled with water and covering the top of the leaves with a plastic storage bag. “Change the water every couple of days, just like you would for flowers,” she says. “We keep the basil under a bag to make a little greenhouse for it.”

This video has nearly 98.5K views, with one person commenting on the post, “I learned this trick from you years ago and haven’t lost any basil since!” Another user called out, “Great tip! I will definitely try this.” So why not channel your inner chef by using this hack to preserve your basil? That way, you can try out her pesto recipe and throw it on delicious dishes like cheesy pizza, zesty salads, or crispy potatoes.