Freezing Basil

Pin It Earlier this year, I had a basil plant in my house.  It was fantastic to have fresh basil for spaghetti sauces and whatnot and it only cost me $3.  Well on a short trip to Idaho I kind of forgot about the plant.  When I got back he was looking rather sad and I didn't think he would make it.  Well I watered him and he came back!  Yay!  We were only gone for 3 days, but on our trip to California we were going to be gone for over a week so I knew the basil wouldn't make it.  I did some research about how to store fresh basil.  There were several techniques, and I'm not sure if one is better than the other, but I ended up doing a freezing technique.

How to freeze basil cubes

1. Harvest the basil leaves
2. Wash, pick the leaves off the stalk and then use the salad spinner to spin out most of the water
3. Pat dry with kitchen towels
4. Stuff the herbs in ice cube trays
5. Fill the tray with water. Use your fingers to push the leaves down into the water as much as possible as they tend to float. 
6. Place the ice cube tray in the freezer
7. Once the ice cubes are frozen, remove them from the tray and transfer to zip-lock bags
8. These cubes are now ready for use

You can simply add the ice cube to your spaghetti sauce or whatever else you are cooking.  It's wonderful!!!