Herbs are easy to grow. You don’t need a garden or special utensils to enjoy fresh herbs almost year round, as many herbs grow well in planters, even indoors. However, if you grow them outdoors in the summer, in a garden or in planters, chances are your last harvest before the fall will be large bunches of herbs. And that is particularly true for basil! Here you’ll learn how to preserve your fresh herbs.

There are different methods for preserving herbs like dill or basil, and I’ve used a number of them. 

• The most commonly used method is to dry them. If you use this method, make sure the herbs are left to dry in a dry environment. You can hang them in little bunches or spread them in a thin layer over paper towels or newspaper —the important thing is that they release moisture and don’t “sit” on it
• You can also freeze them. In this case, what I do is blend them with some olive oil, pour the paste into ice cube trays, place the trays in the freezer and store the resulting cubes in freezer bags. When you’re ready to use some, you just have to place a cube or two in a small bowl and let it melt (or you can add the cube or cubes directly to you pasta sauce, stew or soup).

But the easiest method by far to preserve herbs requires only one ingredient: SALT. The leaves will stay fresh for months and can be used in cooking or baking as if you had picked them fresh from the garden.

Using salt is an old-time method of preservation. Salt has been used to preserve food for centuries. In Spain, salted cod, for instance, has been popular for just as long. 

The salt used for preserving herbs is sea salt or kosher salt, with no iodine added, which could be harmful to the delicate herbs.

 

HOW TO PRESERVE FRESH HERBS

Utensils:

One pint jars

 

Ingredients:

Fresh herbs

Coarse sea salt

 

METHOD:

1. Clean, wash and dry the herbs, remove all the thick stems and discard them.

2.   In a clean glass jar add a layer of salt to cover the bottom.

3.   Add the herbs in layers, alternating with salt, until the container is full. Refrigerate.

4.   The next day you will notice that the herbs  have compacted and lost volume. Keep adding layers of salt and new fresh herbs until the jar is full. Refrigerate.

The herbs will last for months in the refrigerator.