I find the scent of basil, chervil, and cilantro too fugitive to really be good dried. My grandmother used to dry lovage but I preferred it fresh as well as the others mentioned.
Last edited:
I find the basil darkens and turns somewhat mushy when thawed but it seems to retain the flavour much better. Same with many things. I usually only dry when the idea is to make a ground seasoning.
Scott, have you tried using an ice cube tray? Stuff single servings in such a way they won't float when submerged, and fill with water. Sometimes you have to half fill the water, freeze and top up the water later to fully submerge. The water will protect from freezer burn.
If that still doesn't work, half fill the empty tray and freeze. Use the small cubes as ballast when you add the herbs and then more water.
Scott, have you tried using an ice cube tray? Stuff single servings in such a way they won't float when submerged, and fill with water. Sometimes you have to half fill the water, freeze and top up the water later to fully submerge. The water will protect from freezer burn.
If that still doesn't work, half fill the empty tray and freeze. Use the small cubes as ballast when you add the herbs and then more water.
I buy the Dorot frozen garlic, basil, ginger, cilantro at Trader Joe's grocery store. In my opinion they are pretty good (garlic is excellent!), and for $1.99 per package, why not give them a try?
Home - Dorot Gardens | Fresh Frozen Garlic & Herbs
Home - Dorot Gardens | Fresh Frozen Garlic & Herbs
Yes they are good, I thing they use a little neutral oil to help out and they certainly take the ice cube tray idea to the extreme.
My wife has really gotten into the patio gardening, but she was a little eager and has already pulled the garlic before a full die back. Nothing more frustrating than peeling small garlic.
Yes it's easy to grow and does well here in NS. The scapes make a nice pesto.
When we had 3 sons in the house in the fall we'd make batches of pesto w basil, garlic, pignolis, butter and EVOO -- freeze the lot. These days we just buy the pesto at Costco.
i think that butter isn't called for in the original recipe!
speaking of pesto -- you can use pistachio instead of pignoli. italian pignoli is reputedly best, as the asian variety seemingly has a lower tolerance for heat. if i am gonna make cookies which go in the oven, they aren't gonna have pignoli nuts on them.
No cheese in your pesto? The pistachio variant is good, I also would recommend it.
Visitgenoa.it < "official" recipe
Visitgenoa.it < "official" recipe
Nez
Have a friend who,s wife grows garlic, havent spoke to his about that but i do remember him saying they were adding sand to the soil.
The plan is to try top 1 or 2 fresh raised bed with a fresh compost layer after our fall sauce making weekend.
Heading to the Cape for a weeks vaca soon i,ll have to head down that crocked yankee line for beer on the way north.
Thats if it warmed up down there yet.
Have a friend who,s wife grows garlic, havent spoke to his about that but i do remember him saying they were adding sand to the soil.
The plan is to try top 1 or 2 fresh raised bed with a fresh compost layer after our fall sauce making weekend.
Heading to the Cape for a weeks vaca soon i,ll have to head down that crocked yankee line for beer on the way north.
Thats if it warmed up down there yet.
Last edited:
My collection of UK Spectator mags pile up and I go through them on Sunday evenings --here's the beginning of a column by Rory Sutherland:
An Iranian friend of mine recently brought me some gaz from Isfahan. Commonly known as Persian nougat, gaz is perhaps the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. The only thing to avoid is learning how it is made. Pistachio nuts are mixed with ‘honeydew’ collected from the angebin plant of the Zagros mountains, a sticky white substance often believed to be the manna of the Bible. It sounds glorious. That is until my friend told me that honeydew is not the sap of the plant — but is exuded from the anus of an insect which feeds on it. So one of the tastiest things on the planet turns out to be louse crap.
An Iranian friend of mine recently brought me some gaz from Isfahan. Commonly known as Persian nougat, gaz is perhaps the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. The only thing to avoid is learning how it is made. Pistachio nuts are mixed with ‘honeydew’ collected from the angebin plant of the Zagros mountains, a sticky white substance often believed to be the manna of the Bible. It sounds glorious. That is until my friend told me that honeydew is not the sap of the plant — but is exuded from the anus of an insect which feeds on it. So one of the tastiest things on the planet turns out to be louse crap.
Oh I like that idea! I gind I buy some pine nuts and by the second time I use them (usually months later) they are rancid, but when I buy them I only need a few tablespoons. Pistachios have a wonderful texture and flavour, I will try this.
No doubt. We grew garlic here in Halifax where the soil is rocky clay mixed with pollutants, and we got lots of bulbs but they were small. I'm sure better soil would work better. I have garlic growing in my garden now becsuse when I pulled them a few years ago a few cloves stayed behind.
Ah yes, Big Spruce Brewing! The Yankee Line is a wonderful crooked road, the brewery is great, and if you fish you should stop and wet a line in the Middle River on the way by! Enjoy your time in Cape Breton, tonight I am in Riviere du Loup (not far past Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!) on the way to Montreal to deposit my daughter in her new apartment (enrolling at Concordia U in Fine Arts).
