Do you freeze your herbs?

rascal

Forum GOD!
Joined
18 Mar 2018
Local time
3:50 AM
Messages
18,603
Location
Christchurch New Zealand
we are in summer here ATM. We have all year herbs like rosemary thyme parsley oregano. But what I can't grow all year round is coriander aka cilantro and basil. So in summer we grow as much of the latter herbs and freeze in handful quantities. I've grown coriander from seed for the first time as well. I use basil and oregano a lot in my pasta sauces. Coriander I use heaps of it in my curries. I just take it out and chop and add it. So much better than dried. Do you guys do this???

Russ
 
I do - all sorts of things. In fact yesterday my partner went to buy some fresh chives as I needed them for a dish I'm working on and for some reason bought 3 large packets of it - so I put two packs into the freezer. I've not tried freezing chives before but I assume they will be OK. I also freeze whole turmeric root (you can grate it from frozen), kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves. I've not tried freezing coriander or basil though.

Mostly this is produce bought in rather than home grown. I've tried many times, without success, to grow coriander...
 
Chives freeze fine. I forgot about them.

I've frozen basil. It kind of gets dried out looking and very brittle, okay for sauce, not much else.

I bought curry leaves for last night's dinner. They are kind of between dried and fresh. Says their pick date was a little over a month ago on the package. They'll be going in the freezer.

Thyme and rosemary freeze fine too. It actually helps with the thyme, the leaves tend to fall off so you don't have to strip.
 
How do all of you prep for freezing, and how do you store things when you do? I imagine you'd want to dry the herb out as much as possible first to avoid moisture expanding and breaking the cellular walls as it freezes. This probably isn't much of an issue for leaves (bay, curry, thyme, rosemary), but more so for the more delicate things (basil). And, do you put them in a zipper bag or a sealed hard shell container?
 
How do all of you prep for freezing, and how do you store things when you do? I imagine you'd want to dry the herb out as much as possible first to avoid moisture expanding and breaking the cellular walls as it freezes. This probably isn't much of an issue for leaves (bay, curry, thyme, rosemary), but more so for the more delicate things (basil). And, do you put them in a zipper bag or a sealed hard shell container?

Gulp! I just bung them in the freezer. The chives were in the packet from the supermarket and I just tossed them in without opening. I do same with lime leaves, turmeric and anything else. The curry leaves I bought recently were loose. All I did was put them in a plastic food bag and then in freezer.
 
I've tried freezing coriander which was a disaster. Just went to mush. Your post has reminded me that we were given about 30 coriander stalks on Tuesday.

I dried 50% this afternoon in the halogen (10 minutes at 150 degC). They blow all over the place!


dried coriander s.jpg
 
I've not found dried coriander (cilantro) to be worth bothering with. It seems to lose all its flavour. I have some frozen coriander which I bought ready frozen which seems OK, so there must be a way of doing it. Its not the same as fresh in that you can't sprinkle it on a dish but it can be mixed into curry sauces.
 
I've not found dried coriander (cilantro) to be worth bothering with. It seems to lose all its flavour. I have some frozen coriander which I bought ready frozen which seems OK, so there must be a way of doing it. Its not the same as fresh in that you can't sprinkle it on a dish but it can be mixed into curry sauces.

I've never used dried or frozen because we have so much of the fresh stuff here. I experimented with drying it (as I did with parsley) only because we were given so much of it.
 
I just put them all in their original containers in a large 2-gallon plastic bag then put it in the freezer. Keeps them all together that way and I don't have to search for them.
 
Found this:

Freeze Cilantro In Cubes
This freezing method creates small cubes, ideal for popping into soups or stews to add a burst of cilantro's unique, fresh flavor (plus a nice hit of green). For this method, before the cilantro can be put into the ice cube tray, it needs to be pureed with a liquid. Simply whirl the cilantro in a blender or food processor with enough water or olive oil to make a thick puree. Pour into a clean ice cube tray or small covered containers and place in the freezer. Once frozen through, transfer the cilantro cubes to a resealable plastic bag for long-term storage—they will last in the freezer up to 6 months.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/freezing-cilantro-2216424
 
Found this:

Freeze Cilantro In Cubes
This freezing method creates small cubes, ideal for popping into soups or stews to add a burst of cilantro's unique, fresh flavor (plus a nice hit of green). For this method, before the cilantro can be put into the ice cube tray, it needs to be pureed with a liquid. Simply whirl the cilantro in a blender or food processor with enough water or olive oil to make a thick puree. Pour into a clean ice cube tray or small covered containers and place in the freezer. Once frozen through, transfer the cilantro cubes to a resealable plastic bag for long-term storage—they will last in the freezer up to 6 months.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/freezing-cilantro-2216424
This recalls a previous discussion about freezing ginger. I've found that portioning it out like this really helps in food prep. I do usually still buy a fresh root and grate it as I need it, but it reminds me that the time required to prep really pays off in the long run, even if you don't find yourself with a massive quantity of ginger that you need to store before it goes bad. @Yorky followed my comments with his own about freezing garlic, which likewise seems like a great idea.
 
Back
Top Bottom