Preserve fresh basil

Robothell

You need to blanch it in boiling water first before you freeze it apparently.

I always quickly blanch, dry, chop and mix with oil or butter (or a mix of both) and put it into an old icecube tray. Whenever I need some basil for a dish just pop a cube out and throw it into a pot.

Craftyscholar

Magentasue wrote: »

Not sure but I don't think basil is a good one to dry or freeze - do you like pesto? I'd make a couple of jars of that.

How long does pesto keep?

Magentasue

Craftyscholar wrote: »

How long does pesto keep?

Weeks? Months? I keep it in the fridge and use a spoonful or two every week so it lasts a while. When the jar's half full, I wipe the top with a piece of kitchen roll so there's no pesto on the glass to go mouldy and then drizzle a layer of oil on the top. Don't know where, but I read somewhere that if you do that it will keep longer. When I get to the end of the jar, I use it for soup putting some hot water in the jar and swishing it out.

Herbaholic

Yes you can freeze basil, no you don't have to blanche it, you'll lose the flavour :eek: I posted about this over on the July grocery challenge thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=12547289&postcount=2063

LameWolf

Samphire wrote: »

I've read that you can freeze basil with a little water in an ice cube tray - it won't look good enough for garnishing when defrosted but you could pop a herby cube into a pot of something. I

You can. I do this, tear the basil up first, as Samphire says, it's no good for garnishing, but is fine for seasoning/flavouring - I use it in Quorn shepherds pie, or in HM cheese sauce for macaroni cheese.

pmorrisjones

Thank you all very much. I've tried picking off flowers before and the whole plant seems to die anyway. Will try the freezing and bashing first, then the freezing for mixing in with things. I love pesto but my hubby hates the smell on my breath afterwards - so reluctantly only eat it occasionally. Am just about to read the July thread, herbaholic. Don't always have time to read all the threads and when I did a search it came up with so many I gave up. Thanks to you all.