How To Preserve Fresh Herbs

by Pinecones & Acorns Blog

2 Materials

5 Minutes

Easy

This week I have had a lot of fresh herbs to make things with and after I exhausted pesto, herb salads, and a few other recipes I decided to start to store the herbs for winter.

Here are two ways to preserve your fresh herbs.

1. How to Dry Fresh Herbs

a. Take your herbs and tie them in small bundles with kitchen twine, make sure to leave some of the twine when you tie the bundles so that you can tie a knot to hang the herbs. I like to make bundles of mixed herbs, rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, to use in the winter with chicken dishes, to throw into soups, and of course to use with Thanksgiving dinner. I also make individual bundles of herbs.

b. Hang the herbs in a cool dry space for a couple of weeks so they are dry. I hung my herbs from a wooden spoon and then suspended the spoon from a shelf, you could also hand them on a hanger and then hang the hanger in a cool dry space.

c. Once dry, remove all of the leaves from the stems and store in small glass jar. If you like to give home-made gifts for the holidays these herbs are a perfect addition to a gift basket. You could add jars of herbs to a basket with dried pasta, homemade sauce, a loaf of homemade bread and place it all in a colander.

2. Freeze Fresh Herbs

a. Wash and then chop the herbs.b. Place the herbs into ice cube trays and cover with vegetable broth or olive oil. c. Freeze the herbs, once frozen remove the cubes from tray and place in a zip top baggie return to freezer until you need them.

Gather your herbs and kitchen twine.

Gather your herbs, twine and scissors.

Separate the herbs.

Separate the herbs into small bundles and wrap the twine around each bundle,

Hang bundles to dry.

Hang bundles in a cool dry space for 2-3 weeks. Once dry store herbs in jars for use later.

Step 4

You can also use your herbs to make fresh pesto, or sauce. The pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for a month.

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2 comments

Michelle Leslie on Oct 18, 2020

Thank you for the detailed tutorial. Our rosemary bush is going crazy right now so the timing is spot on

Like Reply
- Pinecones & Acorns Blog on Oct 18, 2020
  
  Thank you Michelle! I have bundles tied up and hanging from my dining room chandelier! I also used a bunch of dried herbs and placed them in a silver bucket for Fall decorations. Have a great day.
  
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