For the love of Basil

If you didn’t know, Basil is one of the easiest and most well-known herb that many grow. With that being said, it can become overwhelming not knowing what to do with all the Basil you produce. Basil grows really fast and well in my opinion so I wanted to give you an option of what to do with your overflow. I’ve come to learn that many new gardeners are unaware of what to do with their harvest from summer seasons so I figured we’d start here. 

What you will need: 

·      Olive Oil, or oil of your choice

·      A durable ice cube tray 

·      Fresh basil 

·      A freezer 

Step 1: 

First, you will want to make sure your Basil is clean and somewhat dry before placing it into the ice cube tray

Step 2: 

Chop up or tear apart the Basil into small pieces. I chose to just tear the herbs apart with my hands (lazy).

Step 3:

Place chopped Basil into each cube and then pour the oil of your choice into each tray until the herbs are covered

This is the oil I decided to use.

Step 4:

Place tray into the freezer and wait until it’s fully frozen and then store in a compartment in your freezer until you’re ready to use. 

After I filled this tray, I realized I still had a stalk of Basil and I didn’t have an additional tray, so I decided to propagate it and place it in my windowsill.

I plan to keep this stalk in water until next summer. I will keep you posted on the progress on my Instagram page.

Last year I couldn’t keep Basil alive to save my life, this year I have an abundance of Basil and want to use it more in my dishes. I’m always looking for new dishes to try and thought you might as well, so below are a few options you can incorporate your frozen Basil + Olive Oil. I’ll be sharing some recipes that I use with Basil on the blog as well.

Basil Dishes:

·      Tomato Basil Pasta 

·      Basil Pesto 

·      Tomato Basil soup 

·      Caprese Salad

·      Tomato Basil Sauce 

·      Pesto Salmon 

·      Basil Aioli 

·      Raviolis 

·      Pesto Shrimp 

·      Salsa Verde 

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and experiment with some of your fresh herbs! Let me know in the comments how you cook with Basil, I would love to know!

Until next time,

Bee

Shop Ice cube tray here