How to keep herbs fresh longer
Every time we go grocery shopping, you would never find a day without fresh herbs in our shopping cart. Italian parsley,Cilantro,Thyme,Oregano, Chives, Basil, Dill, Rosemary, Sage etc etc...
As you already know, I love cooking with fresh ingredient and,I love using the fresh herbs because it gives the dish unique characteristics, and it can enhance the flavor of the dish.
There are bottled dried herbs on the market but, personally, I feel that fresh herbs has more fresh flavor that brighten up the dish and, I prefer using the fresh herbs.
If you were like me and buy some fresh herbs at a time, you would encounter the time where you have more than what you need.
When you have fresh herbs more than what you need for the dishes you planned in the week, what would you do to keep your fresh herb fresh longer??
Best solution for this would be to simply growing herbs in your garden. It is fun,and you would be harvesting only the amount you need at a time and there would be no waste on your herbs from your garden.
The herb book that I have says to harvest the herb in the morning after the dew is dried out. It says that that would give you the best flavor of the herb.
Another solution is to store them longer the way they can stay fresh longer.
Many years ago, when I was watching "30 minutes meal" by Rachael Ray on Food network channel, one trick she said was to clean the herb under running water and wrap the herb with paper towel and keep them in the ziploc bag.
I have tried the method, and it can last a bit longer.
Another trick was from food magazine, and it said to chop the herb and put a small amount into ice cube tray and pour small amount of water in there and drop the ice cube into the dish to use the herb.
I have never tried this method but,interesting one. I think this method might be better suited for the use for the soup.
If you were to use for some sort of rubs for meat or flavoring the rice etc, I can see it might work if you thaw the ice cube in container first and then strain the liquid so you can use only herb,not water.
The most popular method to keep the fresh herb stay fresh longer would be to keep in a jar with water just like flower. In fact, this is the method I have been using to keep the herb fresh longer.
Italian Parsley in a jar..
It works. You need to remember to cut the bottom of the stems and,change water but, it lasts long.
<Keep the fresh herb in a jar>
1. Pat the herb dry with paper towel
** DO NOT wash the herb. Wash herb when you need to use them.
2. Cut off the bottom of the stems
** If the herbs had rubber band etc.. take it off.
3. Fill a cup of glass or jar such as mason jar without lid with water, and submerge the herb stems into water
4. Cover the herb top loosely with big ziploc bag upside down
** I have learned that you can keep Italian Parsley or cilantro in the fridge but basil is exception and better to keep fresh basil at room temperature because cold temperature damage the basil..
5. Change water every other day,and trim off any leaves that started getting brown spots.
I have tried this method over and over and it seems to keep about up to a couple of weeks or so. I think that patting dry the herb with paper towel is the first trick to keep the herb fresh longer.
At some grocery stores' produce sections, often times, water is sprayed periodically and, when you want to bag the bunch of herb into vegetable bag, the herb is very wet. Keeping the wet herb in the vegetable bag is not a good idea when it comes to keep the fresh herb fresh longer.
When you pick the fresh herb, you would notice that some of the bunch is quite limp or yellowish in the leaves. Don't buy those herbs. Pick the ones that are not limp and leaves are vibrant green.
Especially for basil, some leaves can get damaged with cold temperature and might have brown spots. Pick the one without the brown spots if you could find one.
Sometimes, if you look at the packaged small amount of fresh herb, you can see that some of them have water in the package and, I do not buy those package.
Take a time to pick your herbs and buy the best one in the bunch. I see some people just grab the herb and go without much inspection of the herb they pick,but if you like to keep fresh herb fresh longer, take a time
As alternative ways to keep the fresh herb fresh longer, you can dehydrate the herb. Dehydrating herb is not complicated at all.
Popular herbs you might use a lot could be Basil,thyme,and oregano.
With those herbs, you can take off the vibrant green leaves and wash them. Then, pat them dry with paper towel. Then spread out thin layers on the tray and dehydrate them at 95F until crisp.
Keep them in the air tight container and crush the leaves as you need.
How do you keep your herb?
As you already know, I love cooking with fresh ingredient and,I love using the fresh herbs because it gives the dish unique characteristics, and it can enhance the flavor of the dish.
There are bottled dried herbs on the market but, personally, I feel that fresh herbs has more fresh flavor that brighten up the dish and, I prefer using the fresh herbs.
If you were like me and buy some fresh herbs at a time, you would encounter the time where you have more than what you need.
When you have fresh herbs more than what you need for the dishes you planned in the week, what would you do to keep your fresh herb fresh longer??
Best solution for this would be to simply growing herbs in your garden. It is fun,and you would be harvesting only the amount you need at a time and there would be no waste on your herbs from your garden.
The herb book that I have says to harvest the herb in the morning after the dew is dried out. It says that that would give you the best flavor of the herb.
Another solution is to store them longer the way they can stay fresh longer.
Many years ago, when I was watching "30 minutes meal" by Rachael Ray on Food network channel, one trick she said was to clean the herb under running water and wrap the herb with paper towel and keep them in the ziploc bag.
I have tried the method, and it can last a bit longer.
Another trick was from food magazine, and it said to chop the herb and put a small amount into ice cube tray and pour small amount of water in there and drop the ice cube into the dish to use the herb.
I have never tried this method but,interesting one. I think this method might be better suited for the use for the soup.
If you were to use for some sort of rubs for meat or flavoring the rice etc, I can see it might work if you thaw the ice cube in container first and then strain the liquid so you can use only herb,not water.
The most popular method to keep the fresh herb stay fresh longer would be to keep in a jar with water just like flower. In fact, this is the method I have been using to keep the herb fresh longer.
Italian Parsley in a jar..
It works. You need to remember to cut the bottom of the stems and,change water but, it lasts long.
<Keep the fresh herb in a jar>
1. Pat the herb dry with paper towel
** DO NOT wash the herb. Wash herb when you need to use them.
2. Cut off the bottom of the stems
** If the herbs had rubber band etc.. take it off.
3. Fill a cup of glass or jar such as mason jar without lid with water, and submerge the herb stems into water
4. Cover the herb top loosely with big ziploc bag upside down
** I have learned that you can keep Italian Parsley or cilantro in the fridge but basil is exception and better to keep fresh basil at room temperature because cold temperature damage the basil..
5. Change water every other day,and trim off any leaves that started getting brown spots.
I have tried this method over and over and it seems to keep about up to a couple of weeks or so. I think that patting dry the herb with paper towel is the first trick to keep the herb fresh longer.
At some grocery stores' produce sections, often times, water is sprayed periodically and, when you want to bag the bunch of herb into vegetable bag, the herb is very wet. Keeping the wet herb in the vegetable bag is not a good idea when it comes to keep the fresh herb fresh longer.
When you pick the fresh herb, you would notice that some of the bunch is quite limp or yellowish in the leaves. Don't buy those herbs. Pick the ones that are not limp and leaves are vibrant green.
Especially for basil, some leaves can get damaged with cold temperature and might have brown spots. Pick the one without the brown spots if you could find one.
Sometimes, if you look at the packaged small amount of fresh herb, you can see that some of them have water in the package and, I do not buy those package.
Take a time to pick your herbs and buy the best one in the bunch. I see some people just grab the herb and go without much inspection of the herb they pick,but if you like to keep fresh herb fresh longer, take a time
As alternative ways to keep the fresh herb fresh longer, you can dehydrate the herb. Dehydrating herb is not complicated at all.
Popular herbs you might use a lot could be Basil,thyme,and oregano.
With those herbs, you can take off the vibrant green leaves and wash them. Then, pat them dry with paper towel. Then spread out thin layers on the tray and dehydrate them at 95F until crisp.
Keep them in the air tight container and crush the leaves as you need.
How do you keep your herb?
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