Preserving Your Fresh Basil

I have spent the day preserving some of my herbs for later use. Although I did hang some to dry in the basement, what I want to share with you is my method of freezing Basil. This way is allows you to store you basil easily and is easy to use. Just toss a cube in your stew or soup, or thaw and blend with butter or cheese for a spread on your bread.

What you need:

Large bowl

Food chopper/processor

Small Spoon

Ice Trays

Boiling water

Freezer Bags

The Japanese beetles were horrible this year, so after cutting down the stalks, I washed the Basil thoroughly and thinned out the usable leaves.

I then place the leaves in my processor to be chopped up.

Cut into small pieces but do not puree. Then place small spoon fulls of chopped basil into ice trays.

Because Basil has to be blanched to freeze, I filled the trays with boiling water. Other herbs can be filled with cold water. Then place trays into freezer.

After several hours, I remove the trays, pop out the cubes, and then place them into labeled freezer bags.