Imagine how wonderful my kitchen smelled after I washed, dried, and de-stemmed all this basil. We went to the farmers market and purchased 10 huge bunches of basil at $1 a-piece. Cleaning and destemming all that basil took almost an hour. Then I blended it up with olive oil and pressed it into ice-cube trays. I needed to add enough olive oil so that it makes a paste. I think it worked better if when didn't totally puree the basil, but left it a little choppy. My mountain of basil made about 50 cubes. Next I have to dump all the basil cubes into a ziplock bag and voila! I will have freshly frozen basil all winter long. If I just add one cube to a marinara sauce and I will feel like it is mid-July in the middle of winter.
I am kind of a novice at food preservation. I can make jam, and like to freeze my pumpkins. This is my first time freezing basil, but my I used to watch my parents do it when I was a kid. I decided to give it a try this year because I got sick of spending a fortune on basil in the cold months. Hopefully, this crop will get me through until the spring.
Do you like to preserve your food? I'd like to hear more about it.
Yes, I love to preserve food as long as it's not too time-consuming. Which means I freeze but I don't can. I like to stuff basil into a freezer bag and crumple it up when frozen. Then I can enjoy it all winter long. I also freeze berries in summer, and grape tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you back!
YOU'RE BACK! yay
ReplyDeleteI used to make preserves, but tired of all the fussing and boiling. I do like to freeze produce though. I pitted and froze 15 lbs of cherries recently. And like you, I hate spending a fortune on fresh herbs in the winter, so I have been freezing fresh dill all summer. Simply wash, chop and put into small bags. So simple!
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