10 Ways To Preserve and Enjoy Your Herb Harvest
It’s wonderful to have a huge variety of herbs growing in your garden. When you can quickly pop outside and snip a few tablespoons of oregano, thyme, chives, basil, and rosemary to add to scrambled eggs or tomato sauce, your cooking has a vibrancy that store-bought dried herbs just can’t compete with.
Many of our favorite culinary herbs can be, ahem, vigorous growers in the garden. (Looking at you, lemon balm!) So, there comes as time each year when it’s smart to snip more than a tablespoon off your plant— in other words, hack at half the plant to make room for other veggies and encourage your herb plants to put on some tender new growth.
While it’s fine to use these cuttings to feed your compost pile (as long they are free of disease), there are so many delicious foods that we can make with a surplus of herbs. Spend a little time in the kitchen making one or more of the concoctions below, and you’ll be savoring herbal goodness for weeks or months to come.
Fresh: Many recipes call for large quantities of fresh herbs. This tabouleh uses 2 cups of fresh parsley and a cup of mint. and this Zucchini Basil Soup requires two cups of the fresh herb. Bunches of cilantro, mint, and Thai basil can be wrapped up in spring rolls. And don’t forget dessert. You need 3/4 cup fresh leaves for this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, plus more for a cute garnish.
Pestos and Sauces: Blending up your herbs into pestos, chimichurris and sauces can be a great way to add garden zing to a wide variety of meats, veggies, pastas, toasts, and pizzas. This creamy herb sauce would make a great dressing for salad or a harvest bowl. There are endless variation to explore on classic pesto (try using a blender instead of the food processor, it makes a smoother sauce in my kitchen). Mix up this Easy Chimichurri, then fire up the grill!
Freeze: Want to save your herbs for later so you can have a fresh taste of summer in a few months, let’s stock the freezer. Here’s a step-by-step on how to do it—in oil or water. And surplus pesto can be frozen into ice cube trays and used later, too.
Dry/Dehydrate: Whether you simply hang a bunch of herbs in a well-ventilated warm place, set up a simple herb-drying rack, or use a dehydrator, make sure your herbs are completely dry and crispy before storing in an airtight container. You can use them individually or make your own blends.
Tea: Mint, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lavender, rosemary, chamomile, tulsi, and countless other herbs are fantastic brewed into tea. Typically it’s best to dry them before brewing. Growing Your Own Tea Garden is a great resource for info on when and how to harvest each herb and how long to steep it for the most benefit.
Infused Vinegar: This is lovely to have on hand for quick, flavorful dressings or to add to any dish that benefits from a little acidity. Overview of how to infuse vinegar here.
Infused Oil: Another great ingredient to have for dressings, sauces, and even cooking is Herb Infused Oil. How easy is this Chive Oil?! And You can also use the same method to infuse oil with herbs like calendula and chamomile for use in body care. Homestead and Chill covers two methods here.
Compound Butter: How fancy will you look when you serve this with crusty bread or a pretty pat on top of a fresh grilled steak? No one needs to know how easy it is to make. You grew the herbs! Savor the compliments. Step by step and ideas for herb combos to try here.
Salt: Salt and flavor your cooking in one pinch when you’ve got these handy. Here’s a Tuscan Herb Salt recipe.
Simple Syrup: Give your beverages extra home grown sparkle by adding an herbal simple syrup to cocktails, lemonade, tea or even just bubbly water. This recipe blanches and blends the herbs into the syrup, while this cook simmers the herbs in syrup for a just a couple of minutes. Which works best for you?
Bonus — any and all of the above can be turned into a gift! Make sure you let the recipient know how quickly it should be consumed.
If you have the favorite ways to use surplus of herbs, please share a comment. Happy cooking!
