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”
Thanks for the great tips. I never thought of freezing tarragon. I have been freezing fresh dill weed, just in a small zip-lock bag. After bing frozen, it crumbles into usable pieces and taste exactly like fresh; very tasty in tuna or salmon salad.
Mona, so glad to hear it was helpful.
Thank you for taking the time to post what you learned. It definitely helped me.
Donna, great idea to dry the scallions. I'll have to try that next summer. Glad this was useful for you.
Hi Kalyn,
Found your blog while looking for ways to preserve my tarragon, sage, and basil. Thanks for sharing this great advice. I wash and chop my scallions into 1/4 inch pieces, let them dry naturally on a screen (I use one of those splatter screens you put over a frying pay) and then jar them up. They stay nice and green and keep all winter. For basil, I just make it all into pesto. Just found a recipe for parsley/sage pesto. Can't wait to try it.
Donna
Colbrook, I haven't grown lemongrass so I've never tried freezing it, but I would guess it can be frozen although the texture would be softer. If you're mostly using the inner parts chopped up finely, it would probably be fine. Love to hear how it turns out if you try it (I'm thinking I might try growing some if I get a greenhouse, which I'm hoping I'll add next year.)
doesn't come out soft at all- is same texture as when it went in the freezer.
s article mentioned freezing lemongrass, but I didn't see any mention of lemongrass in the post. Does anyone have tips on freezing lemongrass? We have 2 huge plants, but they die back in the winter, and we'd love to be able to use them all winter long.
Thanks
I freeze lemongrass all the time- just cut up into slices or bigger pieces as you would normally use it (I use it mostly in slices) and put in a ziplock baggie, get as much air out as possible and freeze! Then just pull it out and put as much as needed into your recipe. Easy Peasy!
Great idea Lise, thanks for sharing!
Thank you , for the tip how to freeze the basil For me was turning dark in freezer, I think it great idea to mix with oil.I will use your suggestion for this year harvest.
Stay well
Anonymous, I haven't tried freezing oregano, but since it's a "soft" herb I might do it just like I do basil. (Oregano is actually the one herb that I think is about as good dried as it is fresh, so I might not bother freezing it.)
Kalyn, I looked at your posts for freezing herbs, but I didn't see anything about oregano. I did noticed the ice-cubes, but maybe I just didn't see it ?!? Is there any way that you can freeze them just as leaves?
I didn’t know that about Thai basil, thanks for sharing.
Thai Basil is a good one for reduce gas in the stomach. Actually there are lots more properties of this Thai herbs and others.
Anonymous, I can only say what has worked for me, but I’ve never blanched any of my herbs before freezing.
I recently tried preserving my basil by blanching it, processing it with a little olive oil, and dropping it by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. I froze it all and then stored my “basil cookies” in a Ziploc. The blanching worked great. My ? is…..Do I have to blanch any other herbs before freezing or preserving them?
P.S. Cynthia, just added a line to the post to make that clear so thanks again for the question.
Cynthia, you are not stupid! Yes, you put the jars back in the freezer. I put them in the door of my freezer with a label on the lid that shows what herb it is. Happy freezing!
Sorry to be stupid, but do you put the JARS back in the freezer? Or do something else w/them?
Bobbisox, the quality of the frozen basil was great, but I did notice I didn’t use it nearly as much during the winter as some of the other herbs I froze. I did add it to a couple of Asian curries with good results.
Great idea about freezing the Thai basil, how did it turn out in recipes when you thawed it out? Mine self sows in this San Diego county climate, but ours are small and we ended up buying the basil at the Asian market; we keep it on the counter; in this hot house, it rooted, unbeknownst to hubby and me I was still using it. We put it out in a big pot of sterile seedling mix and kept it in shade and under mist. Voila, lots of Thai basil.
Kalyn, I too, have a full herb garden for the second season now…last year I had planned on researching how to freeze/store herbs for use in winter but unfortunately never got around to it. As it is a cold, rainy/flurry sort of day here in Rhode Island on Nov. 20th, I decided to spend part of my day out of work sick harvesting my herbs! Thank you for the beautifully described and documented process…here I go to work on my thyme, rosemary, sage, mint, and oregano, all that has survived up until this point in the year. Thanks again, I look forward to excellent results thanks to you! -Melissa