More About Freezing Fresh Herbs: Freezing Sage, Tarragon, and Mint
I’m a huge fan of freezing fresh herbs, and this post shows my methods for freezing Sage, Tarragon, and Mint. Use Fresh Herbs for more information about using herbs!
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What would you do if you had fabulously bushy herb plants, and you lived in Utah where winter was well on the way? I’ve been freezing fresh basil for many years with good results, and last year I made a wonderful discovery when I was freezing fresh thyme and fresh rosemary. So when I realized this past weekend that summer was going to end well before I ran out of fresh herbs, I decided to try some other freezing experiments.
This post shares my methods for freezing Sage, Tarragon, and Mint, and these herbs appear to have frozen with good results. Here are some tips you might like to try if it’s getting cold where you are and you have a garden with herbs that you’d enjoy using during the winter.
Tips for Freezing Sage, Tarragon, and Mint:
- I used my garden scissors to cut the sage from the stems, and just trimmed the plants of the tarragon and mint.
- For each of these herbs, I cut as much as I thought would fit into a large Ziploc bag and washed it well in my large salad spinner.
- When they were spun dry, I put the herbs into the Ziploc bags. Then I left the bags open and let them sit on the counter for several hours, until the moisture left on the leaves had evaporated. (If it’s humid where you are this will take longer. There’s some rosemary in that photo too, but I’ve already written about freezing rosemary.)
- Then I sealed the bags, squeezing most of the air out, and put them in the freezer. Leave them for a few days or even weeks, depending on the type of herb.
- After that time, the leaves will start to fall off the stems.
- This next photo is a bowl of frozen tarragon after four days in the freezer, and you can see the bare stems where the leaves have fallen off. There were only a few stubborn leaves I had to pick off.
- And this last one is not a very good photo because I took it at night, but here are the jars of frozen sage and tarragon leaves I ended up with. Each is slightly smaller than a mayonnaise jar, plenty of sage and tarragon for a lot of good dishes all winter long. Put the jars back in the freezer, then take out the frozen herbs as you need them.
- The mint leaves are taking a bit longer to fall off the stems so I’m leaving them in the freezer a bit longer, but the frozen mint is also working out well.
Of course you figured out that this is my post for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein this week.
More about Freezing Vegetables and Fresh Herbs:
My Favorite Tips for Freezing Garden Tomatoes, Fresh Herbs, and Vegetables
Freezing Thyme and Rosemary
Freezing Fresh Basil
If you have more freezing methods for herbs or ideas for using frozen herbs, please let us know about it in the comments.
51 Comments on “More About Freezing Fresh Herbs: Freezing Sage, Tarragon, and Mint”
Great info, thanks! Is there any reason you couldn't just leave the tarragon frozen in a bag in the freezer and use it from there instead of stripping the leaves and putting them in a jar back in the freezer?
I bet that will work if you have space in the freezer for a bag.
Thanks Eddie, that does sound good!
I found your page searching for advice on freezing Thai basil. It turns out you froze yours exactly as I do mine every year. I was wondering if anyone had figured out a way to freeze the leaves whole, but I'm guessing basil is too delicate for that. Anyway, you asked for suggestions on how to use your frozen Thai basil and I have one. This recipe for Thai Spicy Catfish is great and I still can't believe Thai Chili (one of the best Thai restaurants in Atlanta) posted it online.
http://www.americascuisine.com/georgia/atlanta/thaichili/recipes/592.aspx
By the way,"Grachai (Rhizome)/Tropical Crocus" is wild ginger, but I've substituted with regular ginger and it worked fine. Also I don't usually deep-fry the fish, although I'm sure that would be great. I just pan fry it and put it on a rack in a 200 F oven to stay warm while I make the sauce. Just typing this is making me crave it.
Thank you so much! Great to be able to use the summer herbs through the winter months!
The Thai basil definitely gets darker from freezing. I would not say it is black, but very dark green.
Hi Kalyn, Thanks for your post. I'm trying to find a way to freeze holy basil, which is more delicate than Thai basil, so this might work as well. However, do you find that when you thaw the Thai basil, does it turn black when you thaw it for cooking? Thanks for the awesome posts!
Love that idea of freezing dill; I just wish I had better luck growing it!