Budding gardeners and herb growers will be inundated with bountiful crops at the end of summer. If you’ve found you’ve got enough greenery coming out of your ears, one gardening expert has shared how you can preserve them without wasting them.
Gardening expert Michael, more commonly known as The Mediterranean Gardener on TikTok, revealed how he keeps his garden herbs lasting for ages by using one common kitchen ingredient. All you need is an ice cube tray. Michael said: “Around now you probably have more herbs than you know what to do with them.”
Instead of leaving the herbs alone, harvest as much of the herbs as you want. Give them a thorough wash and allow them to dry.
Chop the herbs like you would when you’re preparing them for cooking. Take an ice cube tray and place the chopped herbs in each of the moulds.
Michael advised to push the herbs down to make sure they’re not spilling over the edge of the tray. Pour over a good amount of olive oil, ensuring none of the herbs are sticking out.
Place the ice cube tray in the freezer for a few hours. These herby ice cubes can then be used in cooking, whenever you need them.
Although you can freeze the herbs on their own, preserving them in a good quality olive oil helps to keep them fresher. The olive oil also helps to reduce the chance of the herbs browning, and prevent freezer burn that you’d get if you freeze fresh herbs as they are, according to Tasty Yummies.
Experts at LoveFood explained that to keep herbs fresh, you should chop them up, before placing them into an ice cube tray. Instead of using water, top the tray with olive oil or melted butter. Then place the ice cube tray in the freezer.
The olive oil will help the herbs retain their flavour while also preventing them from getting freezer burn. The Kitchn noted that this storage hack works best with ‘harder’ herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme, and oregano.
However when it comes to ‘soft’ herbs like mint, basil, lemon verbena, and dill, they don’t react to the method as well. The hack will not only preserve the herbs until you use them, but it makes them easily accessible all year round.
Having the herbs frozen also makes it even more convenient to add to food whenever you need them. It will cut out the preparation time, which means less tidying up, and you’ll also be saving money too.
The Kitchn wrote: “It’s also a great way to have herbs ready immediately for winter stews, roasts, soups, and potato dishes.
“These dishes usually call for oil to start with, and so you can take a cube of frozen oil, herbs inside, out of the freezer and use this as the base of your dish. Cook the onions and garlic in this herb-infused oil and let the taste of herbs spread through your whole dish.”
Dining and Cooking