I love to cook with fresh herb plants. Don’t you? Not only are they taste nice, they smell lovely too! Most herbs are simple to cook with and are best if used fresh. You can always snip off what you need and mix in with the rest of your ingredients for a fresh taste you will love.

How do you cope in the middle of winter when there aren’t fresh herb plants around?

Try freezing as a fresh alternative to drying your herbs because it’s a simpler and better way to keep your herbs fresh. In three steps you can store them for future dishes—cultivate your herbs, harvest your herbs and freeze them. It’s not necessary to chop your herbs before you freeze your herbs. Even after they’re frozen, you will not have to chop them to use them.

Some people chop their herb plants and freeze them in ice cube trays. Just fill each compartment of the ice cube tray almost to the top with diced basil or whatever other plant you want to freeze and add water. Put these cubes into the freezer bags and later, when you’re ready add a few cubes into your soups, stews and other meals.

If you want to try freezing herbs, these are some great ones to start with:

• Basil: Once you harvest your basil, cut the stem just before the buds, remove the leaves and dry your herbs. Put the dried foliage into a freezer bag so that you can use your herbs later on. You can also avoid the drying out part and put your herbs straight away into the freezer. Another way to keep your basil is to layer them in the bottom of a plastic container and cover them with extra virgin olive oil, which will both protect and bring out the taste. You can store them like this for several months.

• Parsley: Don’t keep this great herb as just another ornamental garnish.  [Parsley|It] will work well in almost any Italian [meal|dish]. Poor parsley is pretty under-rated because it doesn’t have the power-packing taste or aroma of oregano, basil or garlic.  What it does have is the ability to enhance the tastes of other herb plants. Toss it into any dish (usually near the end of the cooking process) and parsley will make the rest of the herb plants that much better. I put whole leaves in a freezer bag and lay it flat until it’s frozen, usually by putting something on top of my bags for a few days in the freezer. When you take out the bag to use the herb, just scrunch up the bag in your hand. No need for knives.

• French Tarragon: Harvest sprigs of this wonderful plant throughout the summer, but stop in early fall so that you don’t damage the herb. Of course it’s best to use the foliage fresh, but you can tuck some of these leaves into a freezer bag and they will get you through the winter. Add your herbs to your chicken or fish dishes. French tarragon also goes well with cream sauces, vinegars and mustards.

Once you put the herb plants in the freezer bag, write the name of the plant on the outside of the bag and the date so that you’ll be able to tell similar herb plants apart.

Good luck with your herb gardening. Be sure to let me know how your herb garden grows.

Here is more information on Italian Herb Garden. Here is a website with a free mini-course dedicated to Herb Gardens.