Recipes

[Shanus]

What's the best way to keep fresh herbs lasting when I bring them home from grocery store? The basil plant that comes in plastic and only requires water to cover roots dies in  2 days. Italian parsley which I use a lot lasts in the frig. only a few days before getting mushy. Not sure whether to keep herbs in their hard plastic bag, remove them from the loose thin plastic veggie bags and refrigerate them or not. Help please. 

[151949]

I grow basil, chives and parsley in a pot so it is always fresh. Just cut off what you need with scissors. They need to be in a sunny window or need a grow light though.

[PINKdogWOOD]

I bought a packet of sage, rosemary & thyme for my turkey and dressing.  I have some left over but not much.  I put mine in the fridge.  Not at all sure though I'll reach for any again to use @Shanus. 

[ValuSkr]

Debbie Meyer's Green Boxes are good.  I haven't tried them but they seem to get consistently good reviews.

[Sooner]

You can chop them up, put in an ice cube tray pour in a little oil and freeze to use in soups and on pizzas, etc.  You can also just let them dry on the counter and then rub them between your hands to add to cooking food.

Basil in particular hates cold. . . 

[Shanus]

@Sooner  Thanks for the great ideas. I do my leftover pesto in ice cube trays, but never realized I could do other herbs as well. 

[DiAnne]

I put leftover herbs that I am not going to use in a freezer bag with bunch of vegtebales like carrot peels, celerly that got limp, onion skins, ends of red bell pepper.  I keep those in the freezer and add them to pot when I make homemade chicken stock or vegetable stock.

[chickenbutt]

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PinkDogwood wrote:

I bought a packet of sage, rosemary & thyme for my turkey and dressing.  I have some left over but not much.  I put mine in the fridge.  Not at all sure though I'll reach for any again to use @Shanus. 

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I used these exact same fresh herbs for Thanksgiving.   Unfortunately, since I don't cook so much anymore outside of that huge endeavor, the rest of them usually go to waste.    Glad those packets aren't any larger than they are, because I hate waste.

[Nightowlz]

I freeze what I cannot use. We grow some fresh herbs. Sometimes I use the herbs in the squeeze tubes.

[libbyannE]

I used to grow many indoors, but they died finally. They don't last long in the refrigerator, so I usually wash them, dry them, and freeze them. With basil when I get lots in the summer for making pesto, I go ahead and process basil with garlic and olive oil and freeze in small portions and then when I want pesto I thaw that and process with the freshly grated Parmesan (I keep a block opinion the freezer) and toasted pine nuts. I just freeze herbs, including cilantro, in lock and lock containers and take what I need as I make fresh pico de gallo, Vietnamese lettuce wraps or whatever.