If your herbs are growing faster than you can cook with them this summer, here are five steps for freezing by the serving size, so they don’t go to waste.

Herbs Growing Like Weeds

By Krystal Noiseux

The Providence Journal

Chop them: The freezing method of preservation is designed for herbs you’ll cook with in the future, versus herbs you’ll garnish with (use fresh or dried herbs for that). Be sure to chop herbs up well, especially ones with broader leaves, such as sage.

Pack them: Clean and dry an ice cube tray, and pack your freshly chopped herbs in the ice cube moldings. You can do one herb type per molding, or mix herbs that you know you’ll use together. These “herb cubes” make perfect serving sizes!

Bathe them: You have two options. You can boil water and carefully pour it over your herb cubes. This blanches them, and preserves flavor. Alternatively, you can freeze them in oil olive, which is especially convenient if you’ll be using them with olive oil when you cook.

Freeze them: Freeze the herbs in the ice cube tray overnight. In the morning you can pop them out and put them in a freezer bag. Make sure to label and date the bag – a best practice for any food you freeze.

Thaw them: If you used the olive oil method, you can defrost them in a bowl or right in the pan you’re cooking in. If you used the boiling water method, put the cubes in a small strainer over a bowl until they thaw.4
-Krystal Noiseux is the recycling program manager for the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation.