8 Steps to Preserve Herbs in Oil

Herbs...the quickest way to have your meal speak eloquently.

 Preserving herbs in olive oil or butter is simply Easy Breezy.  Infusing a dish with flavor takes almost no effort at all... just let the flavors do the working.  If it is summer and  you have a bountiful harvest of herbs, NOW is the time to preserve them.  You can use little ice cube trays, egg cartons, just about anything tiny to hold your olive oil and herbs.   Why preserve in oil or butter? Preserving herbs in oil reduces some of the browning and freezer burn that herbs can get in the freezer.  Also, soups, stews, salmon, and other dishes call for oil in the beginning.  With that in mind,  take a cube of frozen oil, herbs inside, out of the freezer and use this as the base of your cooking.   Cook onions and garlic in this herb-infused oil and let the taste of herbs spread through your whole dish. The image is from the website by Faith Durand. 

1. Choose firm, fresh herbs, which you have grown or acquired from a healthy source.
(Rosemary, sage, fennel, thyme, oregano, and other stiff, firm herbs freeze best.) 
Soft herbs such as mint, basil, lemon verbena and dill do not respond well to freezing.  Soft herbs are usually added raw to a dish.. Their fresh taste is changed in the freezer, and not for the better.

2. If you wish, chop the herbs fine, or leave them in larger springs and leaves.  As a
matter of fact, do both.  Each has a benefit in cooking.  Sometimes you may want large, whole
herbs which are easier to remove from soups, etc.
  
3. Pack the wells of the trays about 2/3 full.  Trays can consist of ice cube, egg cartons, tiny plastic storage devices about the size of eggs, or anything else you think might be just fine.   I even used your dad's metal muffin tins for larger pucks of oil.

4. You can mix up the herbs, too; think about freezing a boquet garni (It's an essential part of French cooking, and it always contains a bay leaf, thyme, and perhaps some parsley or rosemary) of sage, thyme, and rosemary to add to winter roast chickens and potatoes!   Sage, Thyme and Oregano is a nice mixture as well.

5. Pour extra-virgin olive oil or melted, unsalted butter over the herbs.  You can use salted butter, but unsalted butter is better in the freezer.  The salt affects the freezing process.

6.  Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight. Keep in mind...Oil will take longer to freeze than broth.

7. Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.

8.  Don't forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside!