Fragrant herbs can make any culinary dish even better. Tempting mint, hearty basil, and fresh thyme can take your recipe creations to all new levels. Maybe you’re heading to the farmers market to stock up on fresh herbs for the week or perhaps you have to pick up a few items at your local grocery store and want to add these produce items to your shopping list. Wherever you gather your marjoram and oregano from around town, you’ll want to preserve these fresh ingredients so that you can use them as long as possible. 

How you store your herbs will result in whether you have fresh ingredients every time you cook or if you’ll have to sort through the pile to find the freshest options. When you store your herbs in a correct manner, you’ll take the guesswork out of finding the freshest ingredients for your meal. Here are some options on how best to store and preserve the freshness qualities of your parsley, rosemary, and other favorite herbs:

Collecting the Herbs

There are plenty of places to find fresh herbs. You can visit your weekly farmers market and buy herbs from the local farmers that offer their fresh produce. Fresh herbs are also available at the local grocery store and you’ll often find fragrant bunches of these ingredients lining the refrigerated shelves. For the gardeners among us, there may be a plentiful amount of herbs in your garden that you collect throughout the growing season. Many of these herbs will work well within your favorite recipes, such as the sweet potato cakes with dill yogurt sauce or roasted tomato basil soup.

Wash Herbs Before Storing

Before you tuck your favorite herbs away in their designated storage spots, it’s a good idea to give them a quick wash. This will help to remove any dirt and bacteria that could cover your fresh herbs and lead to an unhealthy result. You can wash the herbs under cold water and then place them in a salad spinner to get the extra water off of the produce. If you don’t have a salad spinner, you can lightly shake the herbs or pat them dry with a paper towel. You want to make sure you remove any excess moisture before putting the herbs away.

How to Store Leafy Herbs 

Leafy herbs include produce items such as cilantro, parsley, dill, mint, and basil, to name a few popular choices. If you plan to use your fresh leafy herbs within the next week or so, you can make these fragrant items into an herb bouquet. Snip the bottoms of the herbs, gather the herbs together in a bunch, similar to what a flower bouquet looks like, and place the bunch in a small jar or glass filled with a few inches of water. Place a loose plastic bag over the top of the herbs and place the jar in the refrigerator. 

This easy method ensures that your herbs stay fresh and are ready for your next meal preparation of grilled cilantro lime chicken or one pot wonder tomato basil pasta.

How to Store Hardy Herbs

For hardy herbs, such as thyme, sage, and rosemary, you want to store them a bit differently than you would with leafy herbs. To keep your hardy herbs fresh, lay them out in a row on a damp paper towel and then roll them up. Place the rolled produce items in a plastic bag and seal it, or use plastic wrap, and then place the item in the refrigerator. 

Pull out your favorite herbs and use them as needed, such as when you’re creating a delicious culinary dish of sage roasted pork belly or lemon thyme chicken thighs. 

Preserve Herbs in the Freezer for Future Use

If you don’t think you’ll use all of your fresh herbs within a week or so, you can preserve these bountiful produce items by storing them in the freezer. Combine chopped herbs with light olive oil or canola oil and place the mixture in ice cube trays. Freeze the cubes and then place the frozen herb cubes in a plastic bag and seal it.

You can also combine the chopped herbs and olive oil in a plastic bag, compress the mixture so that it’s flat in the bag, and then close it. Place the mixture in the freezer and you’ll have access to these herbs to add to your favorite recipes whenever you need them. 

Although freezing your fresh cilantro or parsley helps to prolong the life of the produce, you don’t want to keep these herbs in your freezer for years. You should use your frozen basil, dill, and other useful herbs within three months for the best tasting results. 

Find the Best Recipes Containing Your Favorite Herbs on Recipe Cloud 

Now that you know the best ways to store your delicious parsley, thyme, and dill, you’ll want to find some recipes in which to include these tempting herbs. Recipe Cloud can help! This recipe collection website provides access to more than 250,000 recipes, from sensational starters to one-pot meals to feed the entire family. You can search the recipe collection by typing the name of the herb you want to use in your culinary dish and you’ll receive tons of results that include the specific herb. It’s so easy to use and once you do so, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without Recipe Cloud.

While visiting the Recipe Cloud app or website, you can gather information on some must-try recipes, kitchen tips, and meal planning guides. Best of all, when you come across recipes that pique your interest, you can easily save the items so you know exactly where to find them when you’re ready to start cooking your meal. 

Explore Recipe Cloud today to see how this site can help make your meal planning easy and stress-free!