Harvesting Basil and A Thank You to the Farmers

Just a quick post to remind everyone… As the weather gets cold, don’t forget to rescue your herbs! You can harvest any remaining herbs from your garden (or the store, while they’re still more plentiful) and dry or freeze to use throughout the winter. Though they’re not the same as those picked fresh from the garden, they’re so much better than powdery, dried store-bought herbs. Get out in the yard this weekend before it’s too late and the holiday frenzy starts!

****

Harvesting Basil

Though you can certainly dry basil, we so prefer freezing it. Once we figured out how best to do it, we’ve never gone back to drying. It’s easy and so much better in every way—just give them a look, a taste, and a smell. Though the leaves will darken as soon as they defrost, they’ll still taste just about as wonderful when mixed into a something cooked.

Ingredients

– Basil! As much as you can get your hands on.

* Collect your basil (leaves only—the stalks are tough and have little flavor), give them a rinse and blot dry with paper towels. Then try one of these methods for a summer remembrance all winter long.

1. Place leaves on a tray and slide into your freezer. When frozen, quickly place the leaves in a plastic freezer bag and put back in the freezer. (It doesn’t take much time for them to defrost.) You’ll have as few or as many perfect basil leaves ready whenever you need them. To use, take out what you want, quickly seal up the rest again and put back in the freezer, and crumble the leaves you’re using into your dish. The wonderful fragrance of summer will rush back to you..

2. Chop leaves in a food processor, adding enough olive oil to moisten. Spoon into ice cube trays and freeze. When frozen, remove the basil cubes and seal in plastic freezer bags. Keep frozen until you want to use them for your soups, sauces, or pesto.

****

Thanks to all of our farmers!

Though many green markets will remain open through the cold weather, selling root vegetables (we’ve already started roasting them!) and winter greens, we wanted to send a big thank you to some of our local farmers.

The Farm at Sunnyside