Italian parsley

[SeekingSerenity]

I just got my mother's day present... a new Cuisinart Mini-Prep 3-cup food processor. (Which is plenty big enough for me, I am primarily using it for chopping stuff used for that night and baby food.)

So anyway, the first thing I tried was chopping up all the fresh Italian parsley I have. (I have a thriving flowerbox full of the stuff.) WOOT! It works great! Now I have tons of perfectly chopped fresh parsley and there's no way I can use it all before it goes bad.

My question is can you freeze it? And when it's chopped, in an airtight container, how long will it keep in the fridge?

Same questions for fresh basil leaves (my large basil plant is thriving right alongside the parsley in the flowerbox).

THANKS!!!

[lil_earthmomma]

I don't think it will freeze very well...

I would make some pesto sauce with the basil and parsley and freeze that!

[mamadelbosque]

Yeah, make pesto out of it! Or you could dry it and then you'd have your own drid parsley!!

[La Sombra]

I think you could freeze it as long as you were going to cook with it once you thawed it, as opposed to using it as a garnish or something else that you might do with fresh, raw herbs. I know for a fact that Trader Joe's sells/sold various frozen herbs, which is another thing that makes me think this is fine.

I've also made herb butter and frozen that--mmm...!

[beautyful]

I've frozen "stalks" of basil with the leaves attached in a freezer Ziploc just fine. I've never tried chopping it up, but our CSA recommends making pesto and freezing it in ice cube trays for portioning.

[cristeen]

Don't freeze it. Soft herbs like parsley go yucky in the freezer.

Blend it with oil or butter and it will keep a little while (CO does this better than OO). You can use it like gremolata, pesto, mix it into grain dishes or pasta dishes. Mix it with mayo or into a creamy salad dressing like blue cheese.

It will oxidize pretty quickly, turning brown and yucky. A liquid oil like OO will slow it down a bit, but it will still happen. A solid/semi solid fat like CO, butter, mayo, sour cream, etc., will keep it from oxidizing much longer.

[SeekingSerenity]

Awesome!! Thanks everyone!

I've never been a huge fan of pesto but I kind of think it was incorrectly prepared the one time I tried it. I recall it tasted like grass.

But, parsley butter... heyyyy, that sounds yummy! Mayo too.