This is the only plant that was prolific enough in our garden for me to actually store some, and not just eat as it got ripe. I wasn't expecting to do any food-preservation at all, but the herbs were so healthy I couldn't just let them all go to waste.
First I saved some plants in pots. I don't know how long they'll last thru the winter once daylight gets shorter, but there's nothing better than fresh basil on pizza!
Here is the pile of cut basil plants. Isa helped pick off the leaves, and collected all the bugs we found in a jar (inchworms, tiny spiders, beetles, stink bugs). She went off to play after about twenty minutes- it took me
two hours to get all the good leaves picked.
Four containers piled with fresh leaves, and a white box with all the discarded parts on the other side. I spent six hours processing the basil- next year I won't plant so much!
Final product- after a big mess with the blender. We ate some the same night in a chicken and pasta dish. A had some on a turkey sandwich today. I'm surprised how well it turned out! Very tasty. A batch makes about 2 pints and I got 8 1/2 batches. Gave 2 pints to our neighbor, stuck 2 in the fridge and froze the rest. (The ice-cube tray is for when you need a small bit for flavoring, just drop one in the soup or sauce. I haven't tried about it yet but it sounded like a good idea. And I ran out of empty jars to fill anyway.)
First I saved some plants in pots. I don't know how long they'll last thru the winter once daylight gets shorter, but there's nothing better than fresh basil on pizza!
Here is the pile of cut basil plants. Isa helped pick off the leaves, and collected all the bugs we found in a jar (inchworms, tiny spiders, beetles, stink bugs). She went off to play after about twenty minutes- it took me two hours to get all the good leaves picked.
Four containers piled with fresh leaves, and a white box with all the discarded parts on the other side. I spent six hours processing the basil- next year I won't plant so much!
Final product- after a big mess with the blender. We ate some the same night in a chicken and pasta dish. A had some on a turkey sandwich today. I'm surprised how well it turned out! Very tasty. A batch makes about 2 pints and I got 8 1/2 batches. Gave 2 pints to our neighbor, stuck 2 in the fridge and froze the rest. (The ice-cube tray is for when you need a small bit for flavoring, just drop one in the soup or sauce. I haven't tried about it yet but it sounded like a good idea. And I ran out of empty jars to fill anyway.)
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