{"id":3267,"date":"2023-08-20T01:36:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T08:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/2025\/12\/10\/7-ways-to-preserve-fresh-herbs-to-eat-and-enjoy-all-winter-long\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T05:22:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T13:22:48","slug":"7-ways-to-preserve-fresh-herbs-to-eat-and-enjoy-all-winter-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/?p=3267","title":{"rendered":"7 Ways to Preserve Fresh Herbs to Eat and Enjoy all Winter Long"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When I wander around my garden, even in these last days of summer, I still see fresh culinary herbs ready to be harvested and eaten. Some herbs, like dill and cilantro, have reseeded, making a second crop. Others, like my perennial sage, are leafy and full and ready to be harvested. The problem is, I can\u2019t possibly eat all of these herbs before a killing frost hits! I need some unique and creative ways to preserve fresh herbs to eat and enjoy all winter long.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there are many ways to preserve herbs, from drying to fermenting to freezing. In this post we\u2019ll explore 7 ways to preserve herbs, capturing their intense, unique flavor to enjoy through the winter.<\/p>\n

7 Delicious Ways to Preserve Fresh Herbs<\/h2>\n

1) Preserve Herbs in Honey<\/h3>\n

\"Infusing<\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

If you use honey for baking and cooking, you may want to consider preserving some herbs in honey. The herbs impart a subtle to not-so-subtle flavor to the honey, making it ideal for flavoring salad dressings, barbecue sauces, meat stews, or as a sweetener for teas and baked goods. I have a jar of rose petal honey sitting on my shelf just waiting for some scones!<\/p>\n

How to Make and Use Mint Infused Honey<\/p>\n

How to Make Oregano Infused Honey<\/p>\n

Make Rose Honey While the Rose Petals are Abundant<\/p>\n

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2) Ferment Fresh Herbs<\/h3>\n

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One thing I adore about the internet is the sheer amount of inspiration. Just when you think you\u2019ve tried it all, you come across something new to explore. Although I have included fresh herbs in ferments such as my salsa kraut recipe, I have never fermented herbs on their own. Well, that is about to change!<\/p>\n

I have a huge, beautiful bed of dill weed that is about to be added to some Egyptian walking onions and garlic to make an herbal ferment. I will ferment the herbs just like\u00a0how I make sauerkraut, and then blend or mash it up to be used as a condiment on fish, or in potato salad, or even in soups.<\/p>\n

Here are a few how-to posts on how to preserve the fresh, intense flavor of herbs AND add a probiotic kick by fermenting herbs.<\/p>\n

2 Ways to Ferment Fresh Herbs to Preserve them for Months<\/p>\n

Fermented Herbs<\/p>\n

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3) Freeze Herbs to Eat all Winter<\/h3>\n

\"Sage<\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Freezing herbs is a great way to preserve the intense flavor of leafy herbs like basil, sage, and cilantro. While some choose to preserve herbs in ice cube trays in a bit of water, others use the same ice cube tray method, but add olive oil to the herbs for easy use in soups and stews.<\/p>\n

How to Preserve Fresh Basil by Freezing<\/p>\n

A super-fun method I just learned from the A Garden for the House website is to make an \u201cHerbal Cigar\u201d by removing the herb leaves from the stem, placing them in a quart-sized ziploc bag, and rolling them up tightly, like a cigar, taking care to remove all the air. When you need a bit of herbal flavor, you simply remove the \u201ccigar\u201d from the freezer and cut off a portion.<\/p>\n

How I Freeze a Year\u2019s Supply of Herbs<\/p>\n

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4) Make an Herbal Oxymel<\/h3>\n

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An oxymel is a fancy word for herbs infused in vinegar and honey. Oxymels can be used medicinally (think sore throat relief like your Grandmother probably gave you \u2013 mine offered lemon and honey \u2013 or the super popular Fire Cider), or culinarily (salad dressings or beverages come to mind).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s nice is that if you already have some herbs infused in honey, you can simply mix in some apple cider vinegar and you have an oxymel, ready to enjoy! Here are a few how-tos so you can get started making your own herbal oxymels.<\/p>\n

5 Uses for Sage Herb and How to Make an Oxymel<\/p>\n

How to Make Herbal Oxymels<\/p>\n

How to Make Medicinal Vinegars and Oxymels<\/p>\n

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5) Dry or Dehydrate Herbs for Storage<\/h3>\n

\"Drying<\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Drying or dehydrating herbs is probably the most popular method of herb storage and preservation. And it it is quite easy too. I have dried herbs in food dehydrators successfully (watch the temperature!), but prefer to hang them indoors in a dark and cool location. Dried herbs are great for teas, cooking, and for future use in herbal oil infusions, tinctures, and syrups.<\/p>\n

How to Dry Herbs<\/p>\n

Preserve Your Herbs Properly with a Dehydrator<\/p>\n

How to Harvest and Dry Herbs for Storage<\/p>\n

Growing, Preserving, and Storing Garden Fresh Herbs<\/p>\n

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6) Turn Herbs into Delicious Pesto<\/h3>\n

\"Cilantro<\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Pesto is one of my favorite ways to preserve culinary herbs because it is so easy to make, and the results are so delicious! I always make a huge batch or two of basil pesto, storing it in the freezer in glass mason jars.<\/p>\n

My father in-law in Arizona has basil plants the size of bushes, which keeps my mother-in-law busy making pesto! She freezes it in ice cube trays, and then transfers the cubes into Ziploc bags for easy freezer storage. It\u2019s so easy to thaw a cube or two and pop it into a pasta sauce or stew.<\/p>\n

The Endlessly Adaptable Pesto Recipe<\/p>\n

Basil Pesto \u2013 Three Different Ways<\/p>\n

A few years ago I branched out and began making cilantro pesto, which is a fabulous addition to rice and beans, or any Mexican dish.<\/p>\n

Cilantro Pesto Recipe<\/p>\n

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7) Preserve Herbs in Sugar<\/h3>\n

\"Anise<\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n

Preserving herbs in sugar might be the most decadent way to preserve your fresh herbs. After all, when I think sugar, I immediately jump to cake and cookies and all sorts of baked goods. And that\u2019s exactly what I will advise you to do with your sugar-preserved herbs! In addition to preserving mint and lavender (like in the how-tos below), think about preserving less common herbs in sugar, like Anise Hyssop, basil, or sage. And then start stocking up on cookie recipes :).<\/p>\n

Mint Sugar & Mint Extract<\/p>\n

Lavender Infused Sugar<\/p>\n

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Of course this post doesn\u2019t even begin to touch all of the various ways you can preserve herbs in tinctures, salves, or other medicinal remedies, but I hope it gives you a great start in finding new and delicious ways to preserve the herbs from your garden so you can eat and enjoy them all winter long.<\/p>\n

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What is your favorite way to preserve fresh herbs? Leave a comment below!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Pin it for Later:<\/h3>\n

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More homesteading inspiration!<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • \"Vegetable<\/source><\/picture>Vegetable Storage in a Root Cellar<\/li>\n
  • \"How<\/source><\/picture>How to Hang Onions for Storage<\/li>\n
  • \"Root<\/source><\/picture>Root Cellaring 101 \u2013 What is a Root Cellar, Ideal Conditions, and Use<\/li>\n
  • \"How<\/source><\/picture>How to Preserve Kale: Freezing, Dehydrating, Canning, and more!<\/li>\n
  • \"Easy<\/source><\/picture>Easy to Grow Herbs for your Homestead Medicinal Herb Garden<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When I wander around my garden, even in these last days of summer, I still see fresh culinary herbs ready…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homesteading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3460,"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3267\/revisions\/3460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitvsolutions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}