Preserving Herbs In Olive Oil

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Preserving Herbs in olive oil is a great way to have herbs ready immediately for winter stews, roasts, soups, and potato dishes. These dishes usually call for oil to start with so you can use a cube of frozen herbs and oil as the base of your dish. Take out a few cubes in the winter and cook onions and garlic in this herb-infused oil to start your dish. Let the taste of herbs spread through your whole dish. This method of preservation works best with hardier herbs.

Directions

1. Choose firm, fresh herbs, ideally from the market or your own garden.
2. You can chop them fine or leave them in larger sprigs and leaves. You can also freeze a combination of finely chopped and whole herbs such as rosemary, fennel stalk, sage, dill, lavender and oregano.
3. Pack the wells of ice cube trays about 2/3 full of herbs.
4. Pour Sutter Buttes Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the herbs. Try experimenting with infused oil; Thai Chili Olive Oil for herbs with a kick, Meyer Lemon Olive Oil for herbs to use in chicken noodle soup or Lavender Olive Oil over fresh rosemary for braised lamb.
5. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
6. Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.
7. Don't forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside!