Too much Basil

[Ricardo]

I've got far too much basil and its starting to bolt. My wife is on a diet so I can't make pesto with it. Short of making tomato sauce (freezer is a bit full already), what can I do with all these basil leaves? Do they freeze?

[VirginVegGrower]

Why can't you make pesto? Olive oil is great at busting high cholesterol.

[chris]

Yes, I freeze my basil leaves (though to be honest, there's hardly ever enough for me - they are great in a salad!).. anyway, I put them in a plastic freezer bag, and when I want to cook with them, I just crumble some over/in what I'm cooking.

[VirginVegGrower]

I freeze my herbs in ice cubes.

[Florence Fennel]

I do the same as Chris with Basil, Coriander and Mint (separate bags of course).

[CaroltheCarrot]

What about drying it, I dry a lot of my herbs

[Ricardo]

Thanks everybody. Unfortunately Olive Oil is a no no on her Slimming World diet VVG. (Grrrr....)
Chris/Flo, to freeze the leaves in bags, I'm assuming you don't need to blanch them? I guess the colour might suffer a bit but the aromatic side of things'll be tickety boo.
I've tried the ice cube trick with coriander before and was not pleased with the results. Maybe I did it wrong. I guess you need to pack the cube tray pretty tightly with the herb, and I didn't. I'll maybe give that another shot. Maybe if I chopped the leaves up a bit first?

[taff]

you can pull up the entire plant, then hang upside down and dry them, then crumble into an airtight jar.

[VirginVegGrower]

Basil doesn't dry as well as other herbs IMO. I would freeze it. Is your wife allowed any oil as you could try making a lighter caloried pesto - look for low fat options on the oil and cheese. Think I would make it and eat it anyway...ummmm pesto

[taff]

I know, but I couldn't think of another way without oil. It's not bad if you make a herb mix for meat say, mix up basil, thyme, rosemary and bay, add some salt, sprinkle on fried chicken with a bit of white wine...yum.

and no, don't blanch the leaves.

[baldrick]

try a tin of tomatoes a tin of tomato soup and enough basil chopped and stirred in that you can see the green. Its wonderful, just like posh tomato soup and pretty low cal too id have thought? you can probably add pasta to it for a main meal too.

[shaunbrook]

Hi you can make salts out of your herbs! its a method of reducing salt in you diet by adding herbs. you can make thyme salt, bay salt, basil salt, garlic salt.... the list goes on and because it is preserved in salt it will keep forever=] Job done.

[SarrissUK]

When I have too much fresh basil (if there is such a thing), I chop it up roughly and pop it into an ice cube tray, fairly tightly packed, then top up with water.. Once frozen, you can put the cubes in a bag so it takes up less space. Ace to just drop in to soups or sauces as and when needed - remarkably 'fresh' tasting!

[Florence Fennel]

On Beechgrove last night they brushed the leaves of the basil with oil before freezing. Apparently it stops them sticking together. I never do that, just put in a plastic bag and freeze.

[binley100]

I chopped a load of mint to freeze, then realised if I froze it whole I could just crumble it while frozen ....d'oh