Heather says:
If you have a wilting bunch of cilantro or parsley you can perk it back up by cutting 1/2″ off the stems and placing the bunch in a glass of water, just like a bouquet of flowers. Place the glass in the fridge and please, try not to knock it over.
Alternately, you can process the cilantro or parsley in a food processor with a small amount of olive or vegetable oil and spoon the paste into an ice cube tray. Once frozen pop the cubes out and into a freezer bag for storage. These cubes are great for adding to soups, sauces, and marinades where the herbs’ appearance is not an issue.
I love this blog! It’s amazing how numbed you become to reading not useful things, and then you find something that actually is!
OH, I’m so glad you posted this. I was trying to think about how to preserve Cilantro in the freezer, last night. I didn’t think of oil (probably because I haven’t slept like a normal person, all week.
Thank you!
Don’t forget to loosly drap a plastic bag over the leaves to help retain moisture.
You can do the water glass thing with celery, too. Root veggies drying out? Soak in the sink for a couple of hours and dry thoroughly before putting away again. If I find veggies on sale I buy a bunch of ’em and chop up what I can’t use in a reasonable time frame, pack tightly in plastic containers, fill the containers to the top with filtered water or homemade stock, and freeze. I use these as a fast start on soups and skillet dinners.
Keter,
God bless you! What a great idea! Sometimes my menu plans go awry (LOL) and I have all these veggies languishing in their drawer. This is a great solution!
About the cilantro and parsley, I’m currently experimenting with a tip I read somewhere: wash your excess fresh parsley and dry, then chop, and store in the freezer in something air tight. It’s supposed to produce near-to-fresh tasting parsley when used later in soups, etc. Has anyone else tried this?
“About the cilantro and parsley, I’m currently experimenting with a tip I read somewhere: wash your excess fresh parsley and dry, then chop, and store in the freezer in something air tight.”
Judith-
It works well with parsley but not cilantro. Cilantro turns to mush.
You can chop the cilantro, then bag it with a little olive oil or water to cover. It will still be mushy but the is fine in sauces or soups.
At least that’s been my experience. Anyone else?
A tip to go along with Keter’s suggestion (GREAT suggestion BTW!)
would be to microwave the veggies for a few minutes to blanch them to stop the enzyme process before freezing in water of stock.
CJ, do you blanche /microwave it with water right??? and how do you know how long to zing it for?