Here Are So Many Ways You Can Preserve Herbs

 Preserving Herbs:

Aha! I bet you didn't think of this one. 

We grow our herbs in my AeroGarden. It is a hydroponics water system to grow herbs and many other things. If that caught your attention and you are interested, here are two videos I put together walking you through what it is, how it works, how to set one up, and how to care for yours. 

Now, how do I go about preserving them? I'll be glad to tell you how. 

The first way is by picking whatever I want and putting them onto a baking sheet and let them air dry, turning every few days. When they are completely dry, I crunch them up or run them through a coffee grinder. I then take a bottle with a lid and place the dried herb into the bottle and label it. Any bottle or jar will do, as long as it has a lid that seals. You could even use a small plastic bowl with a locking lid. Bam! long shelf life. 

Method number two is to pick some leaves from the one herb of your choice or you can make a blend of herbs, place into a food processor and add salt. I'm not talking about a sprinkle of salt, I'm talking about the same amount of salt as herbs. Pulse them together until the herbs are finely chopped and mixed into the salt. Place in air tight containers with a locking lid and  place in the refrigerator since these are fresh herbs and not dried. Use as a regular salt when cooking. The cool thing is,  you can use those little leafy ends of  celery and you can use carrot tops too to do this. I am so sorry, I forgot to get a picture. But trust me, it tastes so good. 

Method number three is to take leaves and place in the cells of ice cube trays, with an oil or butter (melted)  of your choosing. Place ice cube trays in the freezer until fully frozen. Remove from freezer, pop cubes out into a ziploc bag for storage. Take out a cube as needed to cook with. It melts just fine in the pan with your dish. I will take mint leaves and freeze them in the trays with water or juice to make mint ice cold tea, or smoothies. 

Method four: take a stick of butter and mix with any finely chopped herb.  After it is good and well combined, place into an air tight container and store in the refrigerator since you are using  a fresh herb. 

Method five: take stems of herbs with their leaves still in tact and place into a jar, fill up to the rim with an oil of your choice. Put lid on and store in a dark cool place and use when cooking. You will need to use these quicker because fresh herbs in oil can go rancid. You can choose to dry the herb first then fill with oil, it will last longer. Do not refrigerate or the oil will congulate. 

Method six, you can make pesto which I have not tried yet, but trust me, I will. 

You can watch the video version here: