Fresh Clips: Preserve Basil Like a Pro

By Kris Wetherbee
August/September 2010
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Basil is easy to grow, but keeping that fresh spicy-sweet flavor intact is not so easy … unless you know a few vital tips and shortcuts.

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• Frequent harvesting is key to luscious, flavorful leaves. Start by pinching the stemless and succulent cluster of new leaves at the top of a shoot above the leaf nodes (the joint in the stem where leaves grow) when plants reach 6 to 8 inches tall. At 12 to 18 inches tall, cut the plant back by two-thirds every three to four weeks. This will result in a multi-stemmed, bushy plant full of harvestable leaves.

• When storing basil, forego the refrigerator as the cold can cause leaves to blacken. Instead, keep basil fresh like you would cut flowers—in a glass of water on the kitchen counter. Change the water in your basil bouquet daily and you can keep the fresh flavor going for up to 10 days.

• Blessed with a bounty of basil? Freeze the excess in ice cube trays. Finely chop leaves (or puree in a blender) and mix with water, broth or olive oil. Then fill ice cube trays with the paste and freeze. Once the cubes are frozen, you can pop them out and transfer the basil pops into a zip-top freezer bag for easy storage. Drop a frozen cube or two into simmering soups and stews or to bring a touch of summer flavor to winter stir-fries and sautés.

Even More Basil

5 More Ways To Preserve Basil 

10 Basil Varieties You'll Love 

Delicious Basil-Infused Recipes 

Is Chocolate Basil An Urban Myth? 

Contributing Editor Kris Wetherbee grows herbs in western Oregon. 

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Archived Comments

  • Christine Klunder 8/16/2011 6:27:20 PM

    I'm surprised that good methods for drying weren't mentioned at all.

  • Christine Klunder 8/16/2011 6:07:53 PM

    I'm surprised that good methods for drying weren't mentioned at all.

  • Penny Crosson_1 8/17/2010 9:33:31 AM

    My husband and I have discovered a really wonderful trick to keeping a fresh basil plant in the house so we can have it all year round. Plant one, and only one, basil in a pot and keep it in a brightly lit window - no direct sunlight. If there is not another basil plant in the vicinity, it will not bloom and therefore, it will not get woody and die. We had one in the house for over four years (yes, you read that correctly!) and it sprawled out and produced leaves quite nicely until we got another basil plant. Then the first one started producing flowers, the stems got woody and it died within a month. We carefully watched the first plant and at times, it would droop and look like it was going to die, but I'd feed it a tiny bit and it would perk back up. Nice to have fresh basil year round!

  • Penny Crosson_1 8/17/2010 9:32:34 AM

    My husband and I have discovered a really wonderful trick to keeping a fresh basil plant in the house so we can have it all year round. Plant one, and only one, basil in a pot and keep it in a brightly lit window - no direct sunlight. If there is not another basil plant in the vicinity, it will not bloom and therefore, it will not get woody and die. We had one in the house for over four years (yes, you read that correctly!) and it sprawled out and produced leaves quite nicely until we got another basil plant. Then the first one started producing flowers, the stems got woody and it died within a month. We carefully watched the first plant and at times, it would droop and look like it was going to die, but I'd feed it a tiny bit and it would perk back up. Nice to have fresh basil year round!

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