Preserving cilantro?
Preserving cilantro?
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Preserving cilantro?
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Post #1 - June 15th, 2006, 12:28 pmGot a huge crop of cilantro --volunteered from last year-- that's just getting set to bolt. Has anyone figured out how to successfully preserve it? water slurry, then freeze? oil slurry, then freeze? It certainly doesn't work any way I've ever tried to dry it...
TIA!
GeoSooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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Post #2 - June 15th, 2006, 12:38 pmI saw this piece in Sunset Magazine and thought it was a really good idea for growing cilantro and avoiding the bolting problem. I know it doesn't help your current situation--and I have no cilantro preserving experience, though would imagine some sort of pesto like concoction would probably freeze well--but I thought I'd share anyway.
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Post #3 - June 15th, 2006, 1:35 pmAs for freezing, I know it can be done. I keep the tiny cubes from Trader Joe's in my freezer for perking up a salsa or black bean salad. (The frozen basil and parsley are handy to have in a pinch as well!)
I found this blog entry and a few others - cubes seem to be the way to go. As long as it is chopped, a water base it fine.
http://blork.typepad.com/blorkblog/2005 ... ilant.html
Good luck!
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Post #4 - June 15th, 2006, 5:45 pmFWIW, my bible on foods is Christine Ingram's "Cooking Ingredients." On freezing herbs that cannot successfully be dried, she recommends chopping, half-filling each spot in an ice-cube tray, topping up with water. Then freeze. That's her preferred method, though she also suggests packing chopped herbs in plastic all by themselves and freezing. She allows that one can freeze whole sprigs or leaves, carefully expel all air, and then freeze in plastic sandwich bags and finally suggests freezing whole sprigs or leaves on trays and when frozen, transferring to bags to keep frozen. Sort of covers all her bases. Hope that helps (or at least confirms your suspicions). Good luck!
[Edited solely to preserve orthographical integrity]Last edited by Gypsy Boy on June 17th, 2006, 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.Gypsy Boy
"I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food." (Erma Bombeck)
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Post #5 - June 15th, 2006, 8:36 pmTnx y'awl! It looks like the concerted opinion is to freeze chopped cilantro in a water medium. There were some interesting variations--including oil pesto suggested on the refrenced blog--but I think I'll try the icecube tray style. I'll report back in due course.
As always, LTH'ers provide the best resource in the biz.
GeoSooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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