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Freezing parsley is a very convenient and efficient way of preserving the herb.

It’s almost instant – much more in tune with our ‘do it now’ culture of modern times than old fashioned methods of drying.

It’s also more reliable – drying parsley can be a hit and miss affair – it can go ‘musty’ and that makes it useless.

You can freeze parsley any time you have an excess – it doesn’t have to be for out of season use – you can add frozen parsley to your cooking to save the mess of chopping on a daily basis.

Frozen parsley is as good as fresh if you do it right.

So – do you want a month’s supply or a winter supply?

Work out how many times you will want to use it – if it’s a month, then you need to think about what recipes you’ll use it for -a parsley sauce, an ingredient in a dish or a garnish?

If it’s for winter, you’ll need to be a little more thoughtful and probably a bit more generous in the amount you freeze down.

If you have a glut of parsley growing in your garden and you want to do ‘one cut’ and save time over the next few weeks, then go this way:-

Gather your parsley from the plants and chop ‘handfuls’ – put into small poly bags and squeeze as much air out of them as you can.

Put these bags into a larger bag or a plastic container (labelled ‘parsley’ as herbs look the same when they’re frozen) and put in your freezer.

These herbs are for use within 4 to 6 weeks – it’s just a way of ‘doing a job once’ and getting the benefit for many times – one lot of chopping and clearing bits of parsley from the kitchen.

If you want to freeze parsley for winter use then you need to approach it in a slightly different way.

The best way is to freeze it in ice cube trays and when they’re solid, pack in a poly box or bag.

You will need:-

- paper towel

- ice cube trays

- freezer labels

- freezer marking pen

- strong freezer bags/poly boxes

- chopping knife

- chopping board

Pick your parsley early in the morning, then wash it and place it to dry on paper towels.

Once it’s dried off, chop it finely and pack it into ice cube trays – add a spot of water to cover and put the trays into the freezer.

When it’s frozen solid, turn the cubes out and put them into a labelled poly bag or box – labelling is important here – all your herbs will look the same once they’re frozen.

Use strong bags and maybe double them up – put the cubes in one bag, then put that bag inside another.

You’ll be keeping these herbs for about 6 months before the growing season starts again, so you want to protect against freezer burn.

If the bag tears, then replace it.

A bag is better than a box in many ways – firstly, it takes up less space and secondly, as you use the parsley, you can squeeze it down to get the air out of it, so lessening the chance of ‘freezer burn’.

The next question is – how much to freeze?

Work out how many times a week you would like to use parsley in cooking.

A sauce once a week – an addition to cooking?

How do you normally use it?

Say it’s 6 months before your herbs are growing strongly enough in the garden to be able to take a cutting of parsley for instance.

That’s 26 weeks – how many times will you use a tablespoon (that’s about 2 ice cubes) of parsley in a recipe?

Twice a week equals 112 cubes – so you need 9 or 10 ice trays to make enough to last you.

It might take you a few days to freeze down this much but it will be well worth it – by freezing parsley, you will get a much fresher tasting result than drying.

Author: Liz Alderson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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