Herbs
Herbs: Your Local Garden of Flavors!
Using herbs is an easy and delicious way to eat more locally. Farmers’ markets and grocery stores often feature vendors with fresh herbs, but you can easily grow herbs outdoors in summer months or indoors all year around.
Harvesting or purchasing
You can harvest herbs planted outdoors anytime during the day, but picking them in the morning before the sun gets hot yields the best product. Herbs planted indoors are really handy: You can pick them anytime! Try to harvest them, however, before they start to bloom. When purchasing herbs, it’s best to do so close to the time you plan to use them.
Storage
Store fresh herbs in separate perforated plastic bags in the crisper section of your refrigerator. To make a perforated bag, use sharp scissors or a knife to puncture several small holes in a plastic produce bag. For best quality, use fresh herbs within a few days.
Preparation
Wash herbs just before you are ready to use them. Wash small amounts under running water. Shake off moisture and pat dry with clean towels, if desired.
For most recipes, herbs are minced into tiny pieces. Chop with a sharp knife on a cutting board or snip off pieces with kitchen scissors.
Sturdy-stemmed herbs – like marjoram, rosemary, sage, and thyme: Strip off the leaves by running your fingers from top to bottom and discard the stem. Alternatively, you can add a sprig of a sturdy-stemmed herb like rosemary to the food you are cooking and remove it before serving, leaving only the flavor. If using thyme from new growth, stems aren’t woody and can often be chopped and used along with the leaves.
Tender-stemmed herbs – like parsley and cilantro: You can use both the leaves and stems in food.
Adding to foods
In uncooked foods such as salad dressings, dips, cut fruit, and cold beverages, add herbs far in advance of serving time. This will allow time for flavors to develop and blend.
To preserve the flavor of fresh herbs in cooked dishes, add them near the end of the cooking process. Recipes can vary in the methods called for, but here are general tips:
Delicate herbs – like basil, chives, cilantro, dill leaves, parsley, marjoram, and mint: Add a minute or two before the end of cooking or sprinkle them on food before serving.
Sturdier herbs – like dill seeds, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, and thyme: Add about the last 20 minutes of cooking.
Freezing
Enjoy the taste of fresh herbs all year long by freezing for later use. Cut the herbs just before the flowers open. At this point, the herb’s flavorful oils are most concentrated in the leaves, and you can maintain much of that flavor with proper storage.
Four freezing techniques:
Option #1: Wash herbs, drain, and pat dry with clean towels. Wrap herbs in freezer paper and then place in a freezer bag. Seal, label, and freeze.
Option #2: Wash herbs and cut into tiny pieces. Fill sections of an ice cube tray* about half full with herbs. Cover herbs with fresh water and freeze until solid. Place frozen cubes in a freezer bag. Seal, label, and place in freezer. When cooking, drop frozen cubes into soups, stews, and sauces.
Option #3: Wash herbs and puree in a blender with a small amount of water. Pour into ice cube trays* and freeze until solid. Transfer cubes to a freezer bag, and seal, label, and freeze it. Add cubes to foods, as desired, during cooking.
*Note: Herbs may stain plastic ice cube trays.
Option #4: Wash herbs and puree in a blender with a small amount of water. Freeze thin flat sheets in small freezer bags. This allows you to just break off as much as you want and put the rest back in the freezer.Additional notes:
If you blend herbs before freezing, you can use oil instead of water depending on how you will use the herbs later; for example, blending with oil works well if you plan to make pesto.
Regardless of the freezing technique you use, be sure to label each bag with the name of the herb and the date frozen, the amount of the herb (if you are freezing herbs in cubes), or additional ingredients (such as oil) if applicable.
Drying
As with freezing, harvest just before the flowers open when oils are most concentrated in the foliage. If possible, harvest in the morning. Rinse in cool water and remove excess moisture with a clean towel. Then use one of several techniques:
Option #1: Tie stems together at the cut ends to make small bundles. Hang bundles upside down in an airy, well-ventilated, darkened area, away from direct sunlight. Strip the leaves when they are crispy dry and crumbly, and store in clean airtight jars. Note: Making the bundles relatively small encourages air circulation and prevents molding.
Option #2: Strip the leaves from the stems and then lay the leaves flat on screens in an airy, well-ventilated, darkened area, away from direct sunlight. Store in clean airtight jars after the leaves are crispy dry and crumbly.
Option #3: Similar to option #2 but dry overnight in an oven. Many ovens do not need to be heated: The oven light of an electric range or the pilot light of a gas range furnishes enough heat for overnight drying. Remove leaves from the stems and lay the leaves on a pan or cookie sheet, without allowing the leaves to touch. Once dry store in clean airtight jars. Leaves dry flat and retain good color.
Other options: Wash the herbs. Use a commercial food dehydrator or microwave. With a commercial dehydrator, follow manufacturer’s directions. With a microwave, watch carefully; heat for 30 seconds at a time – between paper towels – until dry. Store in clean airtight jars.
Sources:
Cent$ible Nutrition Cookbook. Laramie, WY: University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service; rev. 2007. For more information, go to www.uwyo.edu/centsible.
Henneman A, Browning S. Healthy cooking with fresh herbs. Food Reflections Newsletter, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension in Lancaster County; April 2003. Accessed at http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ftapr03.htm.
Kendall P. Growing, preserving and using herbs. Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. Food and nutrition bulletin series no. 9.335; 1999.
National Center for Home Food Preservation. Drying herbs. Extracted from Andress E, Harrison JA. So Easy to Preserve, 5th ed. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service; 2006. Accessed at www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry/herbs.html.
Panter KL. Gardening: Growing herbs in Wyoming. University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service. B-1144. Accessed at http://ces.uwyo.edu/pubs/B1144.pdf.
