The best way for preserving garden fresh basil

Every year I grow a few plants of basil in my garden. But then what do I do with all that garden fresh basil?

There are a few things that I do with it.

I love to use it in my garden fresh tomato sauce. There is just nothing better then taking garden fresh produce and blending them all up into a sauce to make a delicious pasta sauce. Fresh basil to your spaghetti sauce is divine.

I will also use fresh basil in different dishes. Fresh herbs on our chicken or beef is superb. 

But even with only growing a few plants and using them for fresh eating/cooking, I am still left with a lot of basil.

So how do I preserve them?

Today I will share  2 different methods that I preserve garden fresh basil every year. 

Preserving your own food eliminates you having to run to the grocery store every time you need an ingredient. Every year I try to grow and learn to preserve something new that we can use in our kitchen that I won’t have to go to the store to get. 

Planting basil with your tomatoes.

First let’s cover the part where you grow basil plants.

One basil plant will give you plenty of fresh leaves, if all you are looking for is some garden fresh basil to cook with. Use it in all your italian dishes to give them a pop of amazing flavor. One basil plant will give you a bountiful harvest.

The cool thing about growing your own is there are many varieties you can grow like, lemon basil, genovese basil, purple basil, and sweet basil. With the different types of basil, you can get slightly different flavors with each one. I like to grow sweet basil personally. 

The best time of year to grow your basil is early spring, depending on your growing zone. Or even late summer into fall. The hot weather will make the basil start to flower out. I prolong the life of my basil by picking off the flower buds before they flower out. 

The good news about basil is, the leaves just keep growing after you pick it. So if you stay on top of picking your basil, you will get lots and lots of basil to preserve and cook with. 

Make sure you have well-drained soil to have the best growing experience.

The best companion to plant your basil with is tomatoes. It will help your tomatoes to overcome both insects and disease, along with enhancing your tomatoes flavor and growth. I always plant my basil in the same garden beds as my tomatoes. It’s like they are best friends!

​Dehydrating basil leaves.

The first, and easy way, I preserve my basil is by dehydrating it. 

I love to dehydrate mine using a dehydrator. It is quickest. However, if you don’t have one you can simply hang the whole stem of basil leaves to dry. You may want to place them in a paper bag or cover them in with a plastic bag so they don’t get dusty. 

It will take several days or up to a week for them to dry completely. 

​When you use a dehydrator you can accomplish this task in a day.

What dehydrator should I use?

I like to use my Denali Canning dehydrator, The Beast, for all my dehydrating needs. It is small and compact and fits nicely in my pantry on my appliance counter. 

When I am dehydrating herbs I like to do them right around 100 degrees. It does take longer with such a low temperature, however it does preserve the nutrients in the fresh basil leaves by not heating them so hot. 

If you don’t care about that, you can kick up the temp and you will accomplish the same thing in less time. 

Once you have dry basil, you can crunch up the leaves by hand and store in a glass jar with a lid and ring. The other way is to blend up the leaves just until chopped finely, not so that it becomes a powder. This means you will only turn your blender on for a few seconds. Not long at all.

If you have an abundance of dried leaves you can store them in a vacuum sealed bag or also in a glass jar with a lid and ring out of direct sunlight. 

Making garden fresh basil pesto to freeze.

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Making garden fresh basil pesto is so delicious and a must when you have extra basil leaves. This recipe can be used for fresh eating or you can freeze the pesto sauce to be used later. In my opinion this is the best way to preserve your basil thats so delicious.

You will need a blender or food processor to make this pesto. I love to use my Kitchenaid food processor for this project. I use the recipe out of the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. It is one of my favorite cookbooks to use in my kitchen with wholesome good ingredients and recipes. 

If you would like to freeze this pesto sauce for later, I like to use these large silicone ice cube trays. It makes the pesto sauce pop right out once frozen to put in a ziploc bag to store for later in the freezer. 

Here is how you will make this garden fresh basil pesto.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 tsp seas salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil or avocado oil

How to make garden fresh basil pesto:

1. Thoroughly wash and dry your leaves with paper towels or a kitchen towel. Place your washed and dried basil leaves into a food processor or blender. Blend until well chopped up.
2. Add in the parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and salt. Blend until well incorporated.
3. With the food processor turned onto low, slowly pour in the olive oil or avocado oil through the top spout until it comes together into a paste that is slightly liquid. You should not be able to pour the pesto sauce, it will be chunky. 
4. Once you have the right consistency, you can keep pulsing the sauce so that is gets a little smoother or eat as is. We like it slightly chunky. 
5. Use the pesto sauce right away or pour into ice cube trays to be frozen. Once frozen you can pop out each cube and place in freezer bags to keep in the freezer all year long. These will keep in the freezer for up to a year. 

Making homemade pesto is the best way to preserve that fresh flavor of basil all year long. 

Can I water bath or pressure can basil pesto?

Unfortunately you can not can basil pesto. The sauce it too thick and it is not safe to be canned for a shelf life. The best way is to freeze it. 

You will have to plan ahead to remember to take your pesto cubes out at room temperature, so they can thaw. But it is the safest method of preserving. 

These 2 ways to preserve garden fresh basil helps you to during harvest season to have basil for year-round use in your kitchen. Now all the basil lovers can rejoice!