Thursday, August 4, 2016

Re-post - Preserving Fresh Basil!

I would like to remind you that if you still have fresh basil, you can very easily save it to use all winter long!  Here is a post I did a few years ago about that:

How to Preserve fresh Genovese Basil

I have never tried companion planting before. I grew my own Genovese basil transplants this year and so had quite a few and decided to plant them next to tomato plants, as I had heard that is a good combination. It must be. I've never had such glorious basil before! The basil is on the left next to the tomato plant.



I went out this afternoon and cut a basketful of the fresh basil.



Then I removed the leaves from the stems, washed them well and gave them a few spins in the salad spinner.



Next I chopped them in the food processor and put them into a quart jar.



Finally, I covered them with raw apple cider vinegar and put a lid on the jar.



If my house was cooler, I'd just let it sit in a cupboard, but the house gets pretty hot this time of year, so I will store it in the refrigerator. When I want basil for cooking (pesto, spaghetti sauce, pizza, soup, roast, chicken.. etc.) I can just retrieve what I need and it will be like having fresh basil all year!

7 comments:

  1. Thank you. Have you tried this with other herbs?

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    1. No, I haven't Melynda, but I would think it would work just as well!

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  2. This is very interesting, does the basil have a vinegar flavor to it being stored this way and do you keep it refrigerated during the winter. Going to be trying this, thanks for sharing.

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    1. Cheryl, I always squeeze the vinegar out when I use it, so if there is some, it is only a little and won't affect the taste of the soups I use it in. Incidentally, that vinegar is very nice in a salad dressing too. And yes, I keep it in the refrigerator all of the time.

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  3. I was about to ask the same thing about the vinegar flavor. But afterall, I only use it on salads and pasta. Thanks for the tip, I always wondered how to preserve it longer.

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    1. Mely, it does shrink and get darker over time, but the flavor is still excellent!

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    2. Very interesting. I'll have to give this a try. Thank you.

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