If you have your own fresh herb garden, then sooner or later you will be faced with the problem how to store and preserve that abundance. It doesn’t require too much job to harvest and store your herbs, but will be a great addition to your cooking experience and diversity. So, don’t delay harvesting and storing your herbs.
You can harvest your herbs from your garden all summer long and store them as you go. If you harvest your plants successfully, then it is able to recover and give your more herbs to preserve for winter. As for the perennials, don’t harvest them too late during the season, as they need some time to recover before cold weather.
It is important not to cut any herb too close to the ground as you need to leave some leaves sets so that the plant could start growing again. Such annuals like basil and borage should be pulled up as a whole plant and used at the end of the season. The leaves of the most herbs are harvested before the flowers appear, but you could still harvest leaves after the blooming. But you should watch out for old and bitter taste. It is better to harvest quantities of herbs early in the morning, just as the dew dried off the leaves. You could get the strongest essential oils content in this time. It is better to harvest leaves on a clear day, but you shouldn’t be afraid of cutting some leaves any time to add to your dinner.
After harvesting wash your herbs quickly in cold water. Then, shake off the excess water. As for the large leaved plants like basil and borage, it is better to remove leaves from stems to shorten the time of drying. And such small leaved herbs as thyme, oregano, parsley and marjoram can be left whole.
Some of the herbs are better to be stored frozen, as others can be dried. As for the fresh herbs stored for a few days or hours, you should wrap them in paper towels and place them in the vegetable crisper in your fridge. If you want to store your herbs for a longer time than a couple of hours then you shouldn’t wash them and wash directly before using. Don’t use plastic bags for storing fresh herbs. They go bad very fast this way.
For dried herbs storing use air tight containers such as dark glass jars. Watch your containers for moisture and keep them in dark places which will preserve color and flavor better. And don’t forget to label every container. It is also good to keep leaves and flowers whole and then crumble only before using. Most of your dried herbs will keep their flavor for about half a year.
Do you know that food storage can save you from lots of troubles during all sorts of emergency issues. Read more about food storage on this food storage site.
About thegardener