Freezing Herbs: Basil

Basil is one of my absolute favorite herbs. Every year, I plant way too many plants and eat not nearly enough of it. Until this year! I finally managed to figure out the Basil Botheration!

The trick to basil is to harvest often. At least weekly, if not more. Then there is no need for more plants because the plants themselves will just get thicker and bushier and make more actual basil to eat. The rule with basil, as with most herbs, is don't worry, we'll make more!

Still I ended up planting about 9 plants (3 types of basil, split into 3 plantings each) which was closer to what I need but next year I will stick to a total of 6 plants (2 types, 3 plantings each). This gave me plenty to harvest starting almost immediately and I was able to rotate plants and not have to worry too much about plants bolting. Bolting is bad, very bad, with basil which is why frequent harvesting is so necessary. When basil starts to flower (bolting), the basil tastes bitter. So trim that basil back often, even if you're not eating it or freezing it. Don't worry about waste. Seriously, they make more. 

However, since I am so much smarter this year, I didn't trim and toss to prevent bolting as in previous years. No siree! I actually did something with that basil rather than waiting until close to frost to harvest what was left of my basil plants (not always the best quality basil) to try to freeze and make pesto. I don't even know what I was thinking. My yield was very low and I was out of basil by the beginning of November.

With all the eating that we did this summer, I only had to do 2 major harvests throughout the season and one right before frost. Not bad and not at all time consuming. Seriously, I'm lazy. Anything too complicated and I'm out. So I know of what I speak. Each batch took about a half hour or less to process. Most of the time involved is in the freezer and you're not needed for that part so you can go play. See? Easy!

What you will need:

• fresh basil
• ice cube trays
• food processor with chopping blade (or a sharp knife and mad chopping skills, which will increase the processing time)
• salad spinner or colander and paper towels

Obviously, the first step is to gather that lovely basil from the garden. Keep in mind that if you think you have too much basil, you probably don't. Once the leaves are removed from the stems and chopped, you will have roughly 1/3 the volume you have gathered in your arms. It takes a lot of basil to fill three ice cube trays and the time and energy to do one tray compared to three is about the same. Make it worth your while to pull out that food processor!

Remove leaves from stems and put in your colander or salad spinner. Discard any black, dry or generally icky leaves. I sometimes pull them off, sometimes I find a kitchen scissor is faster. Don't worry if you get some small stems in the mix. Rinse leaves under cold water and give them a good spin or use paper towels to dry them off. 

I know what you're thinking, if I'm going to freeze them in water, why do I have to dry them off? Excellent question! Because it makes the basil much easier to work with. If it's too wet those tiny pieces of basil are just going to stick to the food processor, to the ice trays and to your fingers. If you're anything like me, this is going to just irritate you to no end and make this easy process unpleasant and not so easy. 

In fact, with the Purple Ruffles basil there, I had to leave in the middle of the whole process to run kids somewhere. It sat for about 45 minutes before I got back to them and was very dry. So easy to work with! So if you don't have a spinner, draining them in the colander for about a half hour is another option. Not necessary but just for ease. If you're into that kind of thing. Which I am. 

Next, put the leaves into the food processor and pulse a few times. Don't just turn the food processor on because in a heartbeat you will have pesto and that's not what we're going for here. We just want a rough chop. I've never actually counted how many times I've hit the pulse button but I'd say around 6-12 times. It depends on how much basil you have in the bowl. Basically, you want it to look like this:

(Just a little side note about purple basil: I love it. Good flavor. Looks fantastic in caprese salad, in pasta, even in eggs. It does not make pretty pesto. Tastes great! Looks like baby poo. And then no one will eat it because of the poo resemblance and you will be sad. So just don't.) 

Once roughly chopped, scoop the leaves into the ice trays. I use a measuring spoon and try to get a tablespoon into each one. This, however, is not an exact science. While the measuring spoon is pretty good for scooping, the basil apparently does not like to be scooped. So each cube will be approximately one tablespoon, give or take a bit. I'm not much for measuring when I cook so this is fine with me. For the most part, you're not going to over-basil a dish so I suggest over-filling rather than under-filling. This will be like working with fresh basil so you are more likely to need tablespoons rather than teaspoons anyway. Slowly top the trays off with water. Be careful not to fill them too full or your basil will go floating away. 

This was my last fall harvest and I chopped down about 5 entire plants. As you can see, with all that basil I still wasn't able to manage to fill that last little ice cube up there! Tsk! So, really, when harvesting, more is better. 

Also, I cut the plants down the night before I had time to process them. They sat on the table for about 16 hours before I was able to get to them. They were a little wilted but perked up after the cold water rinse. See? You can do everything "wrong" and it still works out!

In regards to the ice cube trays, these are terrible! My freezer didn't come with trays so I had to go buy some. They are hard to find. Walmart, of course, had them. I had the choice of these at like $1.98 or some ridiculously low price or the complicated metal ones from the 70's at $15. I didn't know how this herb freezing thing was going to go so I went on the cheap. Mistake. I recommend getting some good quality ice trays if you don't already have some. 

Finally, stick those bad boys in the freezer. You don't want to leave them in the freezer too long as the water will evaporate eventually and expose more of the herbs and there is more chance of the herbs taking on flavors you would rather it did not. However, once again, I have left my trays untouched in the freezer for 2 weeks or so. They are fine. Once the cubes are frozen solid however, it's best to put them in a freezer bag or plastic storage container. 

Recap:
 
You will need: 

• fresh basil
• ice cube trays
• food processor with chopping blade (or a sharp knife and mad chopping skills, which will increase the processing time)
• salad spinner or colander and paper towels

1. Remove basil leaves from stems and rinse with cold water. 
2. Spin leaves in salad spinner or drain in colander and dry with paper towels.
3. Pulse leaves in food processor (or chop with a knife) to a rough chop.
4. Scoop basil into ice cube trays estimating each scoop at a generous tablespoon.
5. Slowly top off ice cube trays with water. Be careful not to overfill.
6. Place in the freezer until frozen.
7. Remove from trays and store in freezer bags or containers.

Voila! Homegrown basil all winter long!
This process works with pretty much any herb although is best for those you would use in sauces, soups or anywhere the bit of extra water won't ruin the recipe. 





Next:  Freezing Parsley and Chives. Even easier!