Preserved Fresh Herbs

[little plum]

Now that I don't have a garden to grow herbs, I tend to purchase them from the supermarket. The problem I've encountered with this is, the quantity supplied is generally more than the recipe requirements, the rest being tossed in the bin. Last week after Sarah had made a pot of soup she was left with a large sprig of fresh Parsley, I was reluctant to see this thrown away. I acquired 2 plastic cups from my office water dispenser, 1/2 filled one, the other 3/4 filled with chopped Parsley. They were then topped up with water and put in the freezer, looked at them today and they still look perfect. Has anyone tried this before, if so, what was the findings.?

[morag]

I've seen this before, Neil, usually putting herbs in ice cube trays. I've found the herbs are then usually less potent when defrosted. I'd suggest using the herbs in a dish and freezing that for future use.

[Meg]

Neil, I grow herbs and freeze them. I wash and dry the herbs - use a salad spinner - then chop and freeze in small freezer bags in tablespoon amounts. If you cant be bothered chopping just bag up, freeze then when it is frozen crumble it up in the bag - works equally well.
Meg

[little plum]

Meg, would you agree with Morag that they loose some potency when frozen, and if so, do you add extra to compensate.?

[morag]

I don't think adding extra helps, LP,the herbs lose their aroma, essential essence. Especially the soft leafed types like parsley and coriander, the hardier ones like Rosemary, sage, bay, can take a bit of a beating, and it hardly seems to matter if they are frozen or dried, though fresh bay is supposedly more potent than dried.

[Meg]

Meg, would you agree with Morag that they loose some potency when frozen, and if so, do you add extra to compensate.?

Hi LP - I must say I haven't found any loss of flavour using frozen herbs. Coriander is the one herb I freeze without chopping first as it does "bleed" flavour, but if you crumble the frozen herb just before you use it, it still flavours whatever your cooking . The herb I dont freeze is basil - waste of time as it gets a bit slimy when you reconstitute. I suppose it all depends on what you're cooking - my parsley is mainly used for soup - or parsley sauce. The thyme is used to flavour meat casseroles and the rosemary for lamb - all fairly pungent. Sage and bay I always use dried.

Meg