Recently, I decided to plant a mini herb garden. Since we’re in a townhome with landscapers, I didn’t want to tear up the plants they take care of. So I used a large pot we’ve had for years, and planted five tasty herbs! I’ve been so excited to get cooking with some of my favorite ingredients: thyme, oregano, chives, rosemary, and mint. But my conundrum has been keeping cut herbs fresh (because inevitably I always take too much for my recipes).
Now this tip doesn’t just work for herbs that you take from your own garden – or a friend’s. This works really well for grocery store produce as well. I actually figured this tip out when I purchased some parsley for a recipe last week. After washing, I took about 1/4 of the bunch for dinner and left the rest to dry. That evening I found it on the counter wilted and kind of yucky looking. I was ready to throw it out when the thought hit me that maybe it just needed a little water to spruce it up.
I put a little water in a juice cup and inserted my parsley bunch just like I would a bouquet of flowers into a vase. Of course I didn’t take a before picture because I didn’t really think it would work. But lo and behold – the next day the parsley was good as new! It’s now been almost a week and my little bunch of herbs is going strong in that cup of water. Not only has this trick for keeping cut herbs fresh prolonged the life of my parsley, it’s saving me money because I don’t have to buy more, and it looks cute on the counter to boot!
So … next time you think a bunch of cut herbs is too far gone to save,
stick the stems in a cup of water
and watch the magic!
I hope this little tip for keeping cut herbs fresh helps you as much as it has me. I’d love to hear some of your other simple household tricks for keeping food fresh in the comments section …
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