Preserving Garden Goodness: Basilcicles

My garden adventure this year is turning out so well that I can't keep up with the bounty. One of the things I heard at our Demarle at Home Convention last week was the idea of freezing fresh basil. Freezing even small portions is a breeze with Demarle's nonstick trays, so I was eager to try this.

How do you know when it's time to harvest your basil and freeze it? When the plant starts going to seed, cut the entire plant off at the roots (or uproot) it, spritz it well with 1:1 vinegar/water, trim all the leaves off into a colander, eliminating the stems, and soak wash them to remove all debris, just as you would wash berries. I use a cold water-bath in a stainless bowl that fits the colander. Submerge the colander, and the debis will float to the top where it can be washed over the sides. Basil leaves are very light, so this is a bit tricky, but not unmanageable.

The steps of the process:

Wash basil leaves and trim away stems and any bad parts of the leaves.

Dry basil leaves in a salad spinner and/or pat dry. The Silpat® works well as a base for this.

Fill a food processor with fresh leaves, and add just enough good-quality olive oil to coat leaves. This keeps the basil from turning black.

Pulse until all leaves are uniformly chopped. Add oil as needed to make a very coarse paste.

Put the flexi-tray of choice on the medium PBS. I used the mini tartlet tray (1/2 oz). The petit four tray (3/8 oz) makes more, but smaller, portions at one time. You could also use the mini muffin tray and not fill wells completely.

Scrape the basil mixture out out of the food processor with a spatula; fill the wells with the paste, and press down to compact the paste.

Put in the freezer until solid.

Remove tray from freezer, unmold individual "basilcicles," and store in a freezer bag. Mine fit nicely into a quart bag. This will stack easily on my produce freezer shelf.

Look forward to taking out a "basilcicle" to season pasta dishes, soups, and more with fresh-frozen basil this winter!