dried herbs

One of the things I miss about summer is having fresh herbs right outside my back door. You can just cut what you need and it makes the plant grow and grow!

Most of the time, I find adding fresh herbs to my cooking dramatically elevates the dish’s flavor. Growing them yourself is the most economical way to add fresh herbs to your cooking but here in the midwest, most herbs don’t grow too well indoors in the winter. When I do make a recipe that calls for fresh herbs, I do fork over the $2.00 for a little bunch and it never fails that you only need a sprig or two.

What do I do with the rest of the herbs??? Well, sometimes I can add them to something else within the week or if I know I won’t be needing them, I tie them up with kitchen twine and hang them on a hook I have in my pantry to dry. After a week or so they just crumble off in your fingers and then I put in glass spice jars I have on hand. I must say that even though they are dry-they have way more flavor than if you were to buy them dry at the store. Who knows how long they have been sitting on the shelf. This also means you can’t keep them in your cupboard FOREVER, either. If there isn’t a VERY fragrant scent when you open the jar-you just have to toss it because it’s not worth using if it doesn’t give your cooking good flavor (this also applies to spices). Which reminds me that I desperately need to go through my spice cabinet and clean it out!

Since the herbs seem so fragrant when I dry them myself, I don’t mind adding them where I would otherwise use fresh until they are gone which doesn’t take long. As you can see, you don’t get a ton from the bunches, but at least you aren’t wasting any right?

I’ve got thyme and rosemary ready to go.

(notice my little orange timer in the background? yeah, that’s set for an hour to let homemade soft pretzel dough rise …oh I can’t wait-I will let you know how they turn out)

I just came across this-and remembered I have heard this before so I need try it next time-frozen fresh herbs.

Have you ever tried freezing fresh herbs?

What kind of little tips & tricks do you do to prevent waste or improve your cooking?

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