As expensive as fresh basil is in the stores, especially in the
winter, pesto is in the stores, you wouldn't know that you can actually freeze
the basil from your own garden and use it in the winter in cooking. It
works great for any recipe that calls for fresh basil and is cooked. It's
obviously not suitable to use on a salad!
The only equipment you need is a
food processor, blender or chopper.
Ingredients
fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon "fruit fresh" or 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
per 2 cups of packed down basil leaves.
Fruit fresh is available at most grocery stores where canning supplied
like pectin and pickling salt are sold. It is basically a form of
citric acid / vitamin C, that helps prevent the pesto from turning brown
upon exposure to the air.
1/4 cup Olive oil per 2 cups of packed down basil leaves.
It should be the "extra virgin" variety, not the ordinary cooking olive
oil. If it is extra virgin, it will say that on the label: see the
photo for an example of extra virgin (at left) next to cooking olive oil
(at right).
Makes about 2 cup or prepared basil leaves for freezing!
Directions
Step
1 - Pick the leaves off of the stems.
Discard any flower buds, stems or leaves that aren't in good shape. All
we want are leaves; small, medium or large; as long as they are a healthy
green, not brown or molding!
Step
2 - Wash the basil.
Just wash them in a large bowl under cold water, no soap!
Step 3 - Chop the basil (just enough to coat it with oil)
If you don't have a food processor, you can use a blender, and possibly a
chopper. It would be fairly tedious to do this by hand, but I'm sure
it can be done that way, too.
Start by stuffing basil leaves (in small batches) into the food processor and
add the olive oil and fruit fresh to help it keep moving. The olive
oil and fruit fresh keeps the basil from turning dark in the freezer.
Chop coarsely.
Step 4 - Pack into freezer bags
Pack the chopped basil into a Ziploc or vacuum freezer bag and remove as much air
as possible. Seal the
bag and flatten it (that makes it easier to store and when you need some basil,
you can break off a frozen chunk without thawing the rest!)
A visitor suggests chopping it up and stuffing it into ice cube trays, then
topping with water and freezing it. She suggests you can then put the frozen
basil ice cubes into a large freezer bag and they are ready to use for almost
any number of recipes. They stay as fresh as the day you picked them.
Step 5 - Freeze
Pop it into the coldest shelf in your freezer!
Using the frozen basil
Just use it in cooking as you would fresh chopped basil. It ought to
keep in your freezer for 6 to 8 months.
Herbs and oils are both low-acid and together could support the growth of
the disease-causing Clostridium botulinum bacteria. University (Clemson,
University of Georgia, etc.) food science researchers do NOT recommend canning
herbs .
However, herbs and herb mixtures like pesto CAN be safely frozen! Pesto
is an uncooked seasoning mixture of herbs, usually including fresh basil,
and some oil. It may be frozen for long term storage. That's the recommended
method to save your homemade pesto for the dark nights of winter!
Also, oils may be flavored
with herbs if they are made up for fresh use, stored in the refrigerator and
used within 2 to 3 days. Fresh herbs must be washed well and dried
completely before storing in the oil. The very best sanitation and personal
hygiene practices must be used.
Shared Bottom Border
Remember to ALWAYS call the farm or orchard BEFORE you go - weather, heavy picking and business conditions can always affect their hours and crops!
Step
1 - Pick the leaves off of the stems. 
Step
2 - Wash the basil. 
