Basil is probably one of the easiest herbs to grow in a container, and gives you a lot of bang for your buck. In fact, you may have too much bang for your buck (so much basil you can’t use it all at once). As things wind down for the season, preserving what you’ve harvested is a great way to have access to the high quality herbs you became accustomed to during the summer.
Cinnamon and Lemon Basil I harvested from my strawberry pot full of herbs
There are several methods of preserving basil, but these three are–I think–the easiest and most effective. It goes without saying that regardless of the method you choose, you should start with clean, dry leaves.
Freezing
Freezing basil produces (in my opinion) the best results, as the basil is later suitable for using both cooked and fresh. Creating a paste with a small amount of oil has worked best for me. To do this, place the leaves and tender stems into the food processor and turn it on. Slowly drizzle olive oil (or a flavorless vegetable oil if you’re preserving a flavored basil) into the processor’s bowl until a thick paste forms. There should be more basil than olive oil (about a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio). Place the paste into ice cube trays and freeze. When the cubes are completely frozen, you can pop them out and put them in freezer safe storage containers.
Basil stored this way can be kept for up to two years.
Salt
While this may seem strange to modern folks (at least it did to me), salt was a common method of food storage “way back when.” To preserve your basil harvest in salt, simply pour a 1/4 inch of salt into the bottom on a glass pint jar. Then add a layer of basil leaves. Repeat until the jar is full. Seal the jar with a lid and store in the fridge.
Basil stored in salt will last for about 6-9 months. The salt will not take on a basil flavor, but you can still use it as you normally would.
Drying
Dried basil is best when the leaves are kept whole. When the leaves are crumbled, they lose some of the essential oils that make basil taste and smell so great. The easiest way to do this is to hang stems upside down for a week or more, until they are completely dry. Then use a pair of scissors to snip the leaves off of the stem, placing them directly into a wide mouth jar.
Dried basil should be stored in a closed jar, away from heat and light. It will keep for about a year.
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Another good thing to do with the frozen basil is to do as you mentioned, adding olive oil in the food processor, but then instead of ice cube trays, put it in a snack size ziploc bag, and press it flat. Freeze the bags flat, stacked on each other if necessary. Then, when you are ready to cook, you can reach in the bag and break off a piece, as little or as much as you want. This is good when I don’t want such a huge cube. And of course I preserve a lot of basil by making pesto. Never heard of the salt method, neat.
That is so funny…I was just thinking about my vast quantities of basil today and how I would preserve them. Thanks for the great ideas!!!
I’m lazy gardener so I prefer to just rinse off the leaves, shake, air dry on the counter for several hours, then shove basil stems and all into a zip-lock freezer bag. The flavor is superb until next harvest season. I use the leaves on or off the stem depending on what I’m cooking.
Ellen–Whenever I’ve done that, the leaves come out a bit soggy and mushy. Do you have any special tricks to keep the leaves in good condition?
Matt–That’s because we live very close to each other and our plants are maturing at the same time.
Gardenmom–That’s an interesting idea. The ability to take as much or as little as you need is handy.
I’m w/Gardenmom. I make pesto with my basil and it never lasts long enough in the fridge. Some peeps freeze pesto too. Trader Joe’s sells those ridiculous basil cubes. I guess you could use water method and ingredients they use.
How long can basil pesto be stored? In the shops one can buy them on the shelve but i put mine in the fridge- what must i do to preserve the bottle of pesto so that i don’t need to put it in the fridge- recipe please?
Regards
Riana de Villiers (South Africa)
Riana–I’ve never seen pesto that you can store in the cupboard instead of the fridge. I would imagine the manufacturers are using a shelf-stabilizer that isn’t readily available to home cooks, and quite frankly, you probably would rather not ingest if you knew about it.
I bought a box of 2×3 inch bags from Michaels that are great for filling with a couple Tbsp. pesto. Just the right amount for adding to soups, etc. They thaw quickly by dipping in hot water for a couple minutes,.
Hi I have chopped basil put in jar andfilled it with olive oil.
Since i read your comments and i see you freeze the basil before, I would like to know if it is ok to use this basil saucesince it has not been frozen before. Is smells lovely . I jarred it about 2 weeks ago.
Many thanks for your advice
I’m sorry, but I’m not qualified to tell if your basil in oil is safe to eat or not.
can you suggest any site or anyone who could. thank you
margaret
Ho! I would love to make Pedro…but cringe at the cost of pinenuts…any recipe suggestions?
I know pine nuts are expensive but you can use walnut instead.I used to use pine nuts but this time I have used walnuts and the pesto tastes great.Good luck
Sorry..typo…meant Pedro…
Darn…pesto
I have an excellent recipe which called for walnuts instead of pinenuts but since I don’t particularly like walnuts, I use pecans and sometimes pistachios (none of which are cheap but they are less expensive than pinenuts). I buy the large bag of whichever nuts at Costco (even pinenuts are so much cheaper there) and I freeze them in a screw top jar to keep them fresh. Just measure as many as you need and keep the rest in the freezer. Sometimes I combine the nuts and that works well, too. I also sometimes combine flat leaf parsley with the basil for a slightly less intense flavour and/or arugula, all of which I grow on my deck. Cheers.
I had a reaction to pinenuts a couple of years ago (look up ‘pinemouth’) so now I use walnuts, which are also less expensive.
These posts are old but just in case anyone else ends up here… DO NOT put basil or other fresh herbs straight into oil to preserve them. If your unlucky you can get botulism poisoning.
You DO NOT want that, check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism
“If your unlucky you can get botulism poisoning.”
*you’re*
Linda May-I have used walnuts and pecans in pesto before, any softer nut will work just depends what flavor you want, pine nuts do have a unique taste.
It’s been years since I tried preserving basil in salt. But I dimly recall that it was not successful.
And basil in oil leads at the very least to a rotten mess.
I’m wondering about preserving basil in grain alcohol or at least, vodka. But I’m not willing to risk my vodka to an experiment.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
I’ve read of a Sicilian method where one puts in a jar that can seal a layering of kosher salt first, then a layer of basil leaves, then a layer of oil, and repeat, until you are close to the top of the jar then fill the top with salt, then seal it. Some advise letting the leaves wilt overnight and when put on the salt, the water content will be wicked out and you press down with a paper towel to absorb the water so the salt can take its place in the leaves. I am assuming that takes care of the botulism issue. The elimination of the water.
The oil I mentioned is extra virgin olive oil, sorry, I can’t revise my comment just yet. LOL!
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