Herbs - Tips for Storing
Harvesting your Herbs
As soon as you think the plant is big enough to spare you some leaves
you can start picking. Leaves picked on a dry day will taste better than
rain-sodden ones. It is easier, and better for the plant, to cut whole
sprigs and twigs and strip the leaves off in the kitchen; choose bits
from the growing ends of branches where the leaves are younger or pick
leaves from the centre of the clump where they are freshest.
As well as the leaves some herb flowers taste good, have a nibble and if
you like them scatter a few on salads or cut whole flowering stems and
use them for flavouring soups or stews or to make herb oils and
vinegars. Dill and Fennel produce
seeds that can be used in cooking either fresh or dried.
When harvesting herbs to store it is best to pick them before they start
to flower, so usually in May or early June. Marjoram
and Mint can be cut down after flowering, given a
liquid feed and allowed to regrow for a fresh flush of leaves.
Storing your Herbs
Drying is the traditional way to preserve herb leaves for the winter but
some keep their flavour this way better than others. Thyme,
Sage, Rosemary and Marjoram
dry well, Tarragon and Basil
reasonably and Mint, Chives,
Parsley and Rocket poorly. If you want to dry
herbs cut whole branches or twigs, tie them loosely together and hang
them up in a dry, airy place out of direct sun, not in the kitchen which
will be too humid. Leave them for a week or two and when they feel
really dry and crisp rub off the leaves and put them in screw top jars.
Mint and Parsley will freeze: put
whole sprigs or leaves in a plastic bag in the freezer and when you want
to use them crumble the frozen leaves into the dish.
You can preserve the flavour of some herbs in oils or vinegars.
Thyme, Sage, Rosemary,
Marjoram, Basil and Fennel
make delicious oils; Tarragon, Dill
and Mint make good vinegars. To make herb oils or
vinegars fill a clean glass jar with the leaves of your chosen herb and
cover either with a light olive or sunflower oil or a cider or white
wine vinegar. Screw on the top, not a metal one for vinegar, and leave
for 2-3 weeks on a sunny windowsill. Strain off the flavoured oil and
bottle for later use.
Pesto can be made from Parsley or Rocket
as well as Basil, or from a mixture of herbs. Provided
you keep the surface covered with olive oil it will keep for a couple of
months in the fridge or you can put some in ice cube trays and freeze
it.
Herb jellies, a basic apple jelly flavoured with Mint,
Rosemary, Sage or Thyme,
are a good way of preserving a herby flavour and will keep for years.
Herb butters are short-lived, only lasting for 3-4 weeks in the fridge;
chop Parsley, Chives, Rocket,
Fennel, Thyme or Sage,
either singly or in combinations, into softened butter and use in baked
potatoes or for “garlic bread”.
Herbs can be used in the house in ways other than for cooking. Tie a up
bunch of Peppermint, Lemon Balm or
Rosemary and hang it under the showerhead or the hot tap
of the bath to refresh and invigorate.
Herbs are a healthy flavouring for food and growing your own organically
will save you money. The more you use herbs the more things you will
think of to do with them.
Fresh Herbs in Winter
Some perennial herbs die down in the winter and
others keep their leaves all the year round. Even those that keep their
leaves, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme,
will not have a very good flavour when frosted or covered in snow so if
you can bring some of them under cover in the autumn you will be able to
use them for longer. Rosemary is quite easily killed by winter cold and
wet and Sage does not like cold winds so protecting them pays off.
Parsley will keep its leaves under cover but probably
loose them in a hard winter outside. It does not like to be dug up so
grow some plants in pots so you can bring them under cover in November.
Marjoram, Fennel, Tarragon,
Chives and Mints all disappear in
winter but, again, if you have some in a pot under cover or put some
Enviromesh over the plant they will start growing earlier in the spring
when you are really longing for some fresh herbs.