How to save fresh herbs for use later

So in the last few months I have really gotten into gardening, mostly herbs and veggies. My garden is amazing and perfect, of course….just kidding. I don’t know how I’m managing to do it, but I’m keeping it alive…for the moment.

The one plant I have that basically grows like a weed is basil. I end up having to trim that thing down every few weeks just so it doesn’t start growing on top of the other things I have going on in the same planter (rosemary, mint, and peppers). I’ve made just about as much pesto as any human being can stand to consume, so I needed another idea of how to preserve my fresh basil for when I have the occasion/time/energy to make things like bruschetta, homemade pizza, pastas, etc..

So, where else is there to go besides straight to the great and powerful Google. I skimmed many articles and the most popular and successful method for preserving the freshness and taste of freshly harvested herbs is by blanching and freezing.

Here is how I did it:

Step 1: Acquire herbs

I trimmed down my basil plant and gathered all of the branches together. Make sure if you’re harvesting from your plant you do it correctly or you may risk killing part of your plant. The biggest thing is to trim branches off at the base and work your way from the outside of the plant inwards.

Step 2: Pluck basil leaves

I plucked off all of the usable basil leaves and placed them in a bowl. When I say “usable” leaves I mean leaves that are fully grown (avoid the really small baby leaves because they have a slightly different taste than the mature larger leaves), and also the leaves that aren’t browned have holes/bite marks from critters (I can afford to be picky about my leaves because, as I mentioned before, this plant grows faster than a pesky weed).

Step 3: Blanching

I’ve blanched spinach and kale before, back when I was making my now-3-year-old homemade baby food, but this method is a little different than what I had done before. I boiled a pot of water and put the basil leaves in the boiling water for about 15-20 seconds then removed them with tongs and placed them in a bowl of ice water. The ice water instantly stops the blanching process, so the basil doesn’t overcook.

Pro tip: I used a small pot and did this in handfuls, but it would have been way smarter and easier to use a large pot and do all of the basil at once.

Step 4: Dry the basil

After the ice bath, I took the basil out of the bowl with tongs and placed it all on a paper towel and patted it dry. I patted it, like, a lot, using several paper towels to get it as dry as possible. During this process I separated the leaves as much as I could without making it tedious so they would dry better.

Step 5: Freeze

I haven’t busted out my FoodSaver in a while, but I knew it was the best tool for the job. So I just simply split up the basil into 3 groups and FoodSaver’d 2 groups and put one group in a freezer ziploc bag (because obviously when I decided to use my FoodSaver I didn’t have enough left in my roll for all of it…*eyeroll*).

Now, since I just recently did this process I haven’t yet thawed and used any of it yet, so I can’t absolutely guarantee how it’ll taste after being thawed. But, the internet is never wrong, right? 😉