Many recipes only call for a tablespoon or two of fresh herbs, such as cilantro parsley and basil. But unfortunately, that means that you’re off and end up with a lot of extra herbs, and unless you have a dish planned for those herbs within the next few days, the herbs will tend to go bad before you can use them.
One trick some people use is freezing their fresh herbs in ice cubes with a little bit of oil to preserve them to be able to use them in the future. What about doing something to prolong the herbs while they’re still fresh?
Wash your herbs like you normally do. You want to make sure there’s no dirt or debris caught up in the stems or in the leaves of your herbs. Next, you want to cut the stem of your herbs. Just like when you buy fresh cut flowers, you cut the stem so that they can soak up the water easier, this is exactly the same thing that you’re going to be doing to your herbs.
Once you have cut the stem, about an inch or so from the bottoms, you want to place your herbs into a tall glass, a smaller volume, or even a mason jar. Fill up with water enough to cover a couple of inches of the stems, to allow them extra water to soak up into the fresh herbs. You also been want to place a plastic bag over the heads of the herbs to keep the moisture in and so that the herbs exposed to too much oxygen which can cause the leaves to turn brown.
Doing this will prolong the life of your herbs by a week or even more as long as you remember to change the water daily, and make sure that you remove any stems or leaves that might be going bad
There are a ton of herbs that can have their freshness prolongs by doing this. So anytime you have any fresh herbs leftover but you might be using them within the next week, throw them in some water like a flower bouquet.
