Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I thought I just read something here lately, but can't find it in my search.....I have some excess basil and want to freeze it. In the past I have made and frozen pesto, but am thinking now I would like to just freeze it with some olive oil. Any directions? Thanks.

I have put basil and olive oil in blender and pulses till fairly smooth, then pured into ice cube trays and place in freezer. When completely frozen, pop out of cubes and put in freezer bag and store in freezer....you have about a tablespoon of the basil oil in each cube.

Thanks, Ilene, but could you give me some guidelines on amounts of basil/olive oil?

Before I began growing basil hydroponically, I would harvest about this time of year, and grind up the basil (I never froze pesto, as I didn't always want all those ingredients...probably what you are thinking) with just enough oil for it to circulate in the food processor. 1 slightly packed cup of basil would produce just under 1/4 cup of paste, which I would place in a popsicle maker, I got in dollar stores. I would make some regular and some Thai basil popsicles, and just swish them through a sauce when I wanted the flavor, and put it back in the sleeve until I needed it again. I always had so much I ended tossing some by the time I started getting it in the garden next spring.

Thanks Dave and Ilene!

HI,

We have had the best results by convection drying basil and crumbling it into a mason jar and place it in the freezer.

This stuff is incredibly flavorful. Dramatically better than Penzey's dried basil.

Tim