Storing your favorite Herbs as ice cubes

[gata montes]

Many of our favorite herbs, particularly the soft leaved ones like basil, mint, cilantro and parsley die down over the Winter.

If like me you enjoy the taste of fresh herbs over the Winter, but are unable to grown them either inside or out, then this little tip, is the next best thing and may well tide you over until the growing season begins again

Storing your favorite soft leaved herbs as ice cubes is easy, just chop them up, pop into your ice cube tray, cover with water and freeze, once frozen place in freezer bags and store in the unusual way - and of course keep repeating the process, until you have the number of cubes you require

They are great for popping into sauces and soups or once defrosted can be used in salads or as pizza toppings, they are also great for adding to smoothies, especially the various mints, which are my favorites.

You can also do the same with the harder leaved herbs like rosemary and thyme, but this time instead of using water, they can be frozen with any type of herb or pesto butter, which makes them particularly good for adding to stews and sauces.

Hopefully these little tips, will enable those of you who enjoy the taste of fresh herbs, to keep indulging all through the Winter and right up to the next growing season

 

[claudine]

This sounds like a great idea! I know that my mother always freezes parsley, but I had no idea that you can do it with other herbs too and that you can store them as ice cubes. I'm prertty sure that it looks pretty Thank you for the tip!

 

[gata montes]

This sounds like a great idea! I know that my mother always freezes parsley, but I had no idea that you can do it with other herbs too and that you can store them as ice cubes. I'm prertty sure that it looks pretty Thank you for the tip!

Am pleased you like the tip and that it will be useful and yes they do look very pretty.

Here are a few pictures to give you a rough idea of how good they can look

Think these herb ones look pretty, however, mine are normally much more tightly packed with herbs than these.

These herbs frozen in butter look particularly delicious

You can also freeze all kinds of fruits as ice cubes as well, such as strawberries, raspberries, lemon slices etc

which always look really good popped into summer drinks Enjoy

 

[MindyT]

Great idea! Does this change any flavor? Does this make any herb stronger or less effective in flavor?

 

[Babble64]

I had quite a bit of basil to harvest this year. I've never grown it before, so did an Internet search on how to preserve it. One suggestion was just to lay the leaves out on a cookie sheet and let them freeze, then store the frozen leaves in plastic containers. It did say the leaves, frozen, would turn black. So far mine haven't done that (only been in the freezer a week), but that the flavor is better preserved through freezing than drying. Anyway, I do like the looks of those herbal ice cubes, gata montes!

I also made a batch of pesto with my basil, which is also frozen and awaiting future use. I am having such fun with the few things that came out of our minimal gardening experience this year!

 

[claudine]

Am pleased you like the tip and that it will be useful and yes they do look very pretty.

Here are a few pictures to give you a rough idea of how good they can look

View attachment 1249

Think these herb ones look pretty, however, mine are normally much more tightly packed with herbs than these.

View attachment 1248

These herbs frozen in butter look particularly delicious

You can also freeze all kinds of fruits as ice cubes as well, such as strawberries, raspberries, lemon slices etc

View attachment 1250

which always look really good popped into summer drinks Enjoy

The pictures are very inspiring, thank you for sharing them! I must freeze a few raspberries, it's such a wonderful idea, they would look perfect in a drink These herbs frozen in butter remind me of cheese. But of course it's a good thing, since I love cheese. I agree that they look delicious!

 

[gata montes]

I had quite a bit of basil to harvest this year. I've never grown it before, so did an Internet search on how to preserve it. One suggestion was just to lay the leaves out on a cookie sheet and let them freeze, then store the frozen leaves in plastic containers. It did say the leaves, frozen, would turn black. So far mine haven't done that (only been in the freezer a week), but that the flavor is better preserved through freezing than drying. Anyway, I do like the looks of those herbal ice cubes, gata montes!

I also made a batch of pesto with my basil, which is also frozen and awaiting future use. I am having such fun with the few things that came out of our minimal gardening experience this year!

Yes I too have heard, that when herbs are frozen individually and then stored in containers or plastic freezer bags, that either the leaves turn black or get freezer burn, which is one of the reasons, why I now freeze all my herbs as ice-cubes, as apparently freezing them in water stops this - which I have to say seems to work, and after many years of doing this, can honestly say, that I haven't yet, had any that have gone black or suffered from freezer burn - and once thawed they look and taste just like fresh herbs

Am pleased to hear you are having fun with yours too and definitely agree with you - that when you've grown them yourself, it is always so much more enjoyable and hopefully you'll have even more next year.

 

[Trellum]

Awesome idea, gata!!! I read a similar article a while ago, but instead of water you used olive oil. I don't remember which herbs they talked about exactly, but I actually thought it was a brilliant idea! The herbs frozen in butter look really good! I might actually go for it in the future, once I get married and I need to cook dinner for my guy Right now I'm not using a lot herbs to cook for myself, but I'm not a very picky eater

 

[welshyboyo87]

This is a fantastic idea. I would try rapeseed oil or olive oil. The butter herb cubes look really good though. Great for cooking!

Going to try this.

 

[Rosyrain]

I love to make ice cube herbs for my favorite dishes and they are so easy to use. All of have to do is pre measure and freeze. When you are ready to use them you just plop them in the pot.

 

[LindaKay]

I like to make them myself, but I always freeze them olive oil! SO yummy! I want to try the fruit...I would love to drop that in a few drinks this summer.

 

[Abqu]

This is awesome! Looks like it could even cut down on my mojito prep time, which would be awesome.

 

[alexiskilgannon]

I think this is actually a really great way to preserve herb harvest as it still retains a lot of the flavor versus drying it out. The only herb I have seen that loses a substantial amount of flavor in the freezer is coriander/cilantro. For some reason it does not seem to retain it's flavor like the others.

 

[Marie Stine]

That is a great idea to freeze herbs in ice cubes! I have been growing some kitchen herbs inside for the last few months. I have frozen mint and basil by laying them on a cookie sheet in the freezer and so far they are doing ok. I tried freezing oregano on a cookie sheet but it did not really hold up well. I will have to try freezing my herbs in ice cubes. The herb butter sounds really good too.

 

[revolvingtoast]

I read about this not long ago but completely forgot about it, so thank you! This is such a great idea, and one I definitely need to start implementing. This would be so useful for cooking in a hurry too.

Those pictures look great. I love the fruits. I would never have thought to do this with anything but herbs. It makes me want to start experimenting!