What can I do with huge piles of herbs?

Zip them up into a paste with some neutral oil, then freeze in small quantities. You could possibly freeze stems whole in water, but I think the oil makes a better carrier and preserves more of the subtlety of the flavor.

What is a neutral oil. What are the proportions. What are the answers.

I would be tempted to use olive oil, just because it seems like such a fine match with herbs. But then maybe that would mask the herby taste. Mind you, I've certainly got enough to experiment with more than one type of oil; god bless Friday and the foodie possibilities it opens up for the weekend.

Neutral oil = something w/o a flavor of its own, i.e. canola or soybean

Proportions = well....enough of each? I haven't been measuring when I make pesto. Zoom them in a blender or chop them fine, put in a bowl and use enough oil to cover. The oil is to prevent oxidation, and it doesn't hurt to have a bit more than enough.

Will it actually work? Will it be a slimy cold bitter-tasting foul mess in 6 months? Will it get forgotten in the depths of the freezer? These are the mysteries.

I mean I have heard that there is a way to freeze these things.

I am thinking of starting a herb garden, a little indoor one. But I am terrible with plants. Still it seems like having fresh sage, mint, rosemary, and maybe one or two others around would be nice.

I've got a huge amount of basil growing: sweet, purple, and thai holy. And 2 giant mounds of parsley. I'm going to make pesto with the sweet and purple and freeze it. I'm going to try the neutral oil and water methods on the holy basil and parsley, to see how they do. Or just freezing the leaves as is.

Ok, I took the plunge last night and whizzed up each herb individually with oil. I did half of each bunch in olive oil and half in sunflower, thinking that the former would be good for pasta sauces and such, and the latter as a marinade for roasting meats or for when I just want the pure herby flavour. They look pretty good all lined up in their little jars, and now I have an instant herb hit whenever I need it. I put some with some roasted vegetable pasta for lunch today, and it's pretty good stuff.

Jaq, have you started your basil experiments yet?

Not yet - we spent the weekend at the Bumbershoot festival. Should get to it this week though - after a gorgeous sunny warm weekend (perfect for the festival), today dawned cold and rainy. Time to harvest!

i once saw a tv show that told me you could wrap individual portions of herbs in foil and freeze for later use but they ended up very bitter. i think oil would help.

fun thing: make pesto and freeze in ice cube tray. once the cubes are frozen, put them in a freezer bag, then when you want, you can take out like 1 or 2 cubes for a batch of pasta and you don't have to defrost all of it, etc.

we've got sooooooo much basil and mint and oregano. SO MUCH. i mentioned the freezing in oil thing to mr. lauren, but he said that sounded like too much of a botulism risk. i'm not sure about that, but then he's the one who has studied microbiology and such. what gives?

It's true, the anaerobic-ness of being coated in oil would give any botulism spores a chance to multiply and ooze out their toxins. There was a thing about garlic cloves stored in oil that caused botulism poisoning a few years ago. The county extension service said that freezing or refrigerating would keep it from being a problem; don't store at room temperature.

thanks! that's very helpful.

Okay, got another note from the extension office saying freeze it, as refrigeration may not be cold enough. Other options: store in an acidic environment (vinegar), wash in a bleach solution first, can in a pressure canner. Or, air-dry it. Botulisms be everywhere!

don't i know it... i've been snacking on strips from a poorly-preserved iberian ham this week and waiting to succumb.

Haha! I did the same thing with the air-dried ham we made - it's SO GOOD! (but could be so deadly)