freezing basil

[Use Less]

I've run basil through a processor, put in an ice cube tray, covered with water and frozen. Works well enough, and seems to last through the winter in the freezer. I'm wondering if there is a good technique for freezing whole leaves. I put some in a zip bag and into the freezer, but the leaves turned brown really fast, even squeezing the air out hard. Thanks.

[feather]

I use oil instead of water, pack it in small zip lock bags, flatten them out, freeze them, then break off portions as needed. My basil is still green from last year.

I haven't frozen whole leaves but I imagine oil would work for them.

[barefootfarmer]

Use Less, your post was a long time ago but I have an answer for the browning. If you blanch the basil leaves first, they will stay a nice green after you freeze them. I'm working through a lot for pesto right now and found the blaching trick when I was looking for recipes online.

[Deleted]

I read an article the other day about flash freezing the basil leaves, then layering them between waxed paper and storing in zip lock bags in the freezer.

Me, I make pesto and freeze it in ice cube trays. I think I may follow feather's suggestion for this year's harvest.

[solargeek]

We used to much pesto both sun-dried tomato and basil throughout the year to make ice cube tray sizes. I've gone to using a muffin tin. I do put them in the muffin cup holders but you wouldn't need to.
Freeze them, and pop them out and put them in a bag.

Oh and I generally don't put the pinenuts in the pesto recipe since I'm freezing it. I add those when I defrost it or not at all. The garlic, Parmesan, fresh basil and olive oil taste great to me although sometimes I add a couple drops of honey also.

[Deleted]

Pignoli is so expensive, I substitute walnuts.

I should just set aside a coin jar, and put my spare change in it to save for pine nuts. Or maybe go pine nut hunting, but I doubt there are any pine trees around here. Cedar, yes. True pine? Not so much.

[feather]

Basil. My basil usually gets lush and full, a couple feet tall, then it starts sending out flowers at the top. We often cut of the tops and let the leaves really fill out before using the plant's leaves.

Right now, first week of August, the plants are as good as they are going to get. They are starting flowers again, so we cut 1/2 the plants off near the ground, stripped the leaves and I'm dehydrating them at 115 until they get dry and crunchy. Then I'll crumble them into jars to keep.

The second half of the basil comes out tomorrow. I'll wash and dry them, strip off all the leaves, pack them in the food processor with olive oil, and process until it is a paste. It needs the oil to protect the leaves from air. I'll pack those in 4 oz jars and small zip lock freezer bags, patted flat and stacked, all into the freezer.

If I let the basil continue to grow into the fall, they seem to get bug ridden and straggly and aren't great through fall.