He who controls The Spice, controls The Universe.
August 9, 2010 11:44 AM   Subscribe

Halp! We have too many spices and not enough time.

We have an abundance of spices growing in pots outside our rented house. The spices we have are as follows: rosemary, basil, thyme, and we have three types each of basil and thyme. Our rosemary has grown into a good-sized shrub. A nice hot summer has caused our garden to explode in spice-tacular awesomeness, but we don't have any idea how to use it all up.

Question: We are looking for recipes to use up spices (I made pesto last year that we are still working through, so no pesto recipes, please!) or alternatively, methods to effectively dry our spices for winter use.

Note: It would be good to mention that we are unable to bring our spices inside because we don't have enough windows for adequate sunlight (and our lease will not allow us to bring plants in [because our landlady is slightly nuts]).
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith to Home & Garden (17 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
You can dry rosemary and thyme: tie sprigs up in bunches and hang them in a cool, dry spot. They are just as good dry as fresh! Basil doesn't dry well - but if you don't mind the color changing from bright green to muddy black, it FREEZES wonderfully. You could ALSO pulverize it with some salt and olive oil in a Cuisinart and freeze the resultant paste; it'll keep well, albeit again with a changed color.
posted by julthumbscrew at 11:48 AM on August 9, 2010 [1 favorite]


Look into drying or freezing your herbs. While fresh herbs are the best, the dry or frozen options will give you access to good herbs in the winter months.

As for your rosemary, protect its roots in the winter and it should survive just fine. It is a shrub, really, and can grow for years. You'll just want to keep its roots from freezing.
posted by onhazier at 11:49 AM on August 9, 2010


I sometimes chop up leftover basil, mix with a bit of olive oil and freeze it in ice-cube trays for later use. Not sure whether that'd work with other spices, but it might be one way to stretch out the useful life of your fresh herbs.
posted by Bardolph at 11:50 AM on August 9, 2010


Take a look at this. I'd suggest a visit to Cooking Light.com too, for more ideas.

A few more thoughts: you need not eat all your herbs! We have lots of thyme and rosemary plants that have been with us for years. The basil is more delicate but pesto uses huge amounts of it. (And home made pesto is a GREAT gift.)

I'd strongly suggest you not dry your own spices. My husband has done that off and on for years and it never produces good results.
posted by bearwife at 11:53 AM on August 9, 2010


Freeze basil.
posted by Jaltcoh at 11:53 AM on August 9, 2010


Nthing what Bardolph said about freezing the herbs in ice-cube trays, although I use water rather than oil (does olive oil freeze?).

Also, a teeny bit of culinary pedantry: all the plants your mentioned are herbs, not spices.
posted by hot soup girl at 12:01 PM on August 9, 2010


Frozen in ice cubes is great. The texture is lousy, but it doesn't matter, you're essentially putting fresh rosemary into soup in January and the texture doesn't matter at all.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 12:05 PM on August 9, 2010


All of those herbs will freeze nicely in a paste with olive oil.

Also, while the basil is not very cold tolerant, bear in mind that the thyme and rosemary will stay alive well into late fall or early winter, so you can just keep on using them until they finally die.
posted by ssg at 12:07 PM on August 9, 2010


If you have scraps of a few basic soup-friendly vegetables around (especially onion, leek, carrot, celery, and garlic -- also mushrooms or tomato), you could use the thyme and rosemary to make a vegetable stock. Other good herbs that would go well with this: parsley, bay leaves, and sage.

Just saute everything (onion first) in olive oil, then add 6 cups of water and simmer for 30-60 minutes. If you're in a rush, you could skip the sauteing and just throw everything in the pot with water. (Unlike meat stocks, there is no point in cooking it for longer than an hour, which would just cause it to boil down without enhancing the flavor.) Put a sieve over a bowl and pour the liquid into the bowl; then, throw out everything in the sieve (which is now flavorless).

You can make plenty of this and freeze it. I freeze it in an ice tray first, then transfer the stock cubes into a big bowl in the freezer. This way, you can adjust the exact amount you want without microwaving the whole bowl: just boil the desired amount of cubes in a bit of water. It's a very handy ingredient to have around for soups, stews, sauces, risotto, etc.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:16 PM on August 9, 2010


Previously.
posted by halogen at 12:19 PM on August 9, 2010


How I freeze basil: pick the leaves, wash briefly, shake off the excess water and spread on a clean linen/canvas for a couple hours to dry, turning them every now and then, then transfer in a couple trays and freeze. (they freeze very quickly). When frozen, quickly transfer in ziplock bags or similar. Optionally, crush the ziploc bag between your hands if you want chopped basil. (I prefer whole leaves)

Also: basil liquor
steep 30 (up to 50, depending on leaf size) leaves in a jar with 0.3 lt. 190 proof (95%) grain alcohol for 20 days. Shake the jar every couple of days. Prepare a simple syrup with 300 gr. sugar and 0.3 lt. water (bring to a boil in a small pot until completely dissolved, let cool) and add it to the alcohol/leaves. Rest 24 hours, filter and bottle. Store the bottle for a monthbefore use. Best served cold. (keep in a dark place throughout to preserve the beautiful green colour)

Depending on the climate where you live, thyme and rosemary are pretty much year-round, hardy plants. We had a couple very cold spells here last winter (lows below 0°F) and they survived with no problem.
posted by _dario at 12:25 PM on August 9, 2010




You can freeze them without doing any prep beyond washing. Leave the leaves on the stalks and just put them in zip lock freezer bags. As a bonus, after freezing it's really easy to strip the leaves right of the stems. You can cook with them straight from the freezer this way.
posted by kch at 12:44 PM on August 9, 2010


You can also make any of those herbs into an interesting and flavorful tea. (Technically a tisane, for the nitpickers.)
posted by ErikaB at 1:31 PM on August 9, 2010


Just jumping on the "save your rosemary & thyme plants!" bandwagon. (some tips for overwintering) Also seconding that you not try drying...I've tried that with rosemary and oregano. Bleh.
posted by epersonae at 2:29 PM on August 9, 2010


Summer Vegetable Gratin. That recipe only calls for a bit of thyme, but when I make it, I put in handfuls of thyme, marjoram, savory and oregano mixed together to make about a quarter cup.

Roasted Vegetables. You can make the summer version with zucchini, peppers, green beans, or the winter version with potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, etc. Oh, use cauliflower too. Either way, put a ton of herbs in with the olive oil.

Rosemary is fantastic in roasted potatoes or in a mushroom/white wine sauce for pork chops.

And really, all these recipes that say "1 teaspoon" are nuts.
posted by CathyG at 9:00 PM on August 9, 2010


You can also make herb butter and freeze it. Take a stick or two of softened butter, mash up some chopped herbs into it, (perhaps a drop of fresh lemon juice too). Roll into a log, wrap in waxed paper and plastic wrap. Freeze. Make different kinds and keep them around - they're great as a little flavor addition for sauces, or on top of a steak, or in scrambled eggs.
posted by dnash at 11:04 AM on August 10, 2010 [1 favorite]


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