Herbal Ice Cubes

- Carla -'s Note:

Freezing is a simple and excellent way to preserve fresh culinary herbs. Packing in ice cube trays makes it easy to always have fresh herbs on hand, adding fresh herb flavor to soups, sauces, and drinks. Some people prefer to freeze in a good quality olive oil, I prefer the boiling water method, which is listed in this recipe here today. You can freeze herbs individually or in combinations of other herbs.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 tray

• herbs , of choice (basil, chives, cilantro, fennel, lovage, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme, et)
• boiling water

Directions:

1. Mince herb (s) of choice.
2. Pack minced herb (s) into an ice cube tray, each 3/4 full.
3. Fill with boiling water, (this will blanch the herbs before freezing and will help them retain their flavor and color).
4. Once the herbal ice cubes are frozen, you can pop them out of their tray and into freezer bags for storage.
5. Use as needed.

Reviews

[Mustang Sally 54269]

I've been growing & harvesting my own herbs for a few years. I've read it's better to blanch you herbs, however, until I saw your recipe I didn't realize how easy it is to do. I used a herb mincer & bar-size ice cube trays (those tiny ice cubes). I used a wine cork to pack down herbs, poured on the water & froze... vola! I like how green the herbs stay & they're easier to pop into my cooking. Thanks so much for sharing, now I can't wait for spring to start planting.

[Alison J.]

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

[princessbride029]

Thank you for sharing this easy technique. No more (expensive) fresh herbs going rotten and finding their way into my trash can. I tried this with cilantro so far with excellent results! :)