By Kathryn Washburn Breighner
For the next few weeks, we will be furiously "putting up" the herbs from our garden before the frost. Italian parsley is what I harvested today. I have a huge crop of it and preserve it in two ways: drying and freezing.
The first step in this process is the most laborious: picking, cleaning, culling. This would be one step easier if you are using farmer's market herbs--you don't have to pick them like I do. This time of year, there are a variety of herbs at the markets just waiting to be "put up" for use months from now.
Freezing is easy. Pull the leaves from the stalks so you are only using the leaves. Chop fairly fine and put into a small freezer bag pushing the parsley to the bottom and in a fairly even row across the bottom. Then roll the bag beginning with parsley end pushing air out as you roll. Seal the bag and freeze. I usually will do several bags like this and then remove the parsley rolls and put into one freezer bag. When you're ready to use the parsley, just cut off a chunk.
The other freezing method is the one I used on basil today. I chopped the basil and packed tightly into an ice cube tray, covered with water and stuck in the freezer. When they are frozen, pop out the basil cubes and put into a freezer bag. The basil cubes can be used in any recipe except for perhaps a fresh basil caprese salad. Throw the cubes in marinara sauce, soup and use for Thai curries. I will also dry basil.
Today I filled two ice cube trays with basil and four dehydrator racks with Italian parsley. The parsley will dry in the dehydrator for about 12 hours on low and then I will crumble it into a bowl and put in an airtight bag.
Yet to come to our kitchen for drying: dill, cilantro, coriander, oregano, thyme, and sage.
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