How to Harvest and Store Basil

Basil varieties come in enough flavors and intensities to suit any cooking style from Provençal to Vietnamese. And its multitude of attractive colors, shapes and textures earn basil a prime spot in any ornamental garden.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Basil Seeds
• Basil Plants
• Bypass Pruners
• Gardening Gloves
• Butter
• Olive (not Virgin) Oil
• Butter
• Cookie Sheets
• Ice Cube Trays
• Plastic Food Containers
• Plastic Food Containers
• Plastic food containers
• Cookie sheets

1. Pick young basil leaves whenever you want to use them throughout the growing season.

2. Harvest entire branches just before the plants bloom.

3. Try to pick basil in the morning after the dew has dried but before the sun's heat dissipates the essential oils that give it its intense flavor.

4. Pinch the leaves from the stems, spread them on cookie sheets and freeze them. Transfer the frozen leaves to plastic containers and put them back into the freezer for use throughout the winter.

5. Mix finely chopped fresh basil leaves with just enough olive oil or butter to bind them together, then freeze the mixture in ice cube trays.

Tips & Warnings

• Frozen basil turns black, but it tastes almost as though you'd plucked it fresh from the garden. Dried leaves retain much less flavor.
• An outdoor freeze will blacken basil as fast as the freezer in your kitchen. Pick all your basil before nightfall when your local weather forecast predicts an autumn frost.
• Turn at least part of your basil crop into pesto. It's easy to make and it keeps all winter.

[Whitefawnf]

on 10/2/2008 Whitefawnf , Hi to all, another way to do and keep basil: 1 pick any size. 2 get 2 bowls, one with very luck warm water with just a little splash of dish soap. 3 put in bowl, stir a little with hand. 4 wait about 5 minutes,this helps kill any bugs,worms, etc. 5 then put into second bowl with cold water, this helps maintain the cells of basil. Then lay on a tv tray covered with paper towels, not newspapers only under the paper towels to protect tray. wait a couple of days when all dry then put into baggies,plastic containers,keep in freezer.

[Whitefawnf]

on 10/2/2008 Whitefawnf , Hi to all, another way to do and keep basil: 1 pick any size. 2 get 2 bowls, one with very luck warm water with just a little splash of dish soap. 3 put in bowl, stir a little with hand. 4 wait about 5 minutes,this helps kill any bugs,worms, etc. 5 then put into second bowl with cold water, this helps maintain the cells of basil. Then lay on a tv tray covered with paper towels, not newspapers only under the paper towels to protect tray. wait a couple of days when all dry then put into baggies,plastic containers,keep in freezer.

[fig4159]

on 8/14/2008 I pinched off the flowers on my basil plant and stuck them into very wet soil in peat moss starter pots. About half of them rooted, and now I have more plants!

[mririshmom]

on 10/9/2007 I am like rsprtry, my basil flowered. It is time for the first frost, and I will not be able to plant basil again next year. Can I mix the flowers and seeds of the basil and freeze it to use in soups and stews?

[rsprtry124]

on 7/14/2007 I let my basil grow flowers (not on purpose)...Can I use it to cook with now? And if not, can I cut the flowered stems off and regrow fresh basil?