Key Takeaways
• The best place to store basil, so it takes, is the room temperature.
• Place a few basil in water, tent it with a plastic bag and store it from sunlight.
• In this way, Basil lasts up to a week.
For me, fresh basil tastes of summer. The light green and delicate leaves with their intoxicating aroma go to all possible summer dishes, from the caprese salad to fresh pesto and beyond. It’s just not summer without it.
The problem is as soon as the herb is selected (whether by a breeder or from you, the gardener), his days are numbered. I can’t tell you how often I have recorded a shell basil in the grocery store, just to notice that the next day he is already withered with several black leaves. This sometimes prevented me from buying basil – I tend to catch up only if I plan to use it as soon as possible.
And while I had assumed basils as inevitable, I learned something valuable after I had spoken to Jenn Frymark, Chief Treenhouse Officer Gotham Greens. Basil should and can take it! I just kept it wrong.
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How to save basil so that it takes
Rule number one: Hold basil out of of the refrigerator. “Everything below 50 ° F will damage the product by cool stress,” says Frymark. This means that your basil of light green and cheeky is discolored by and discolored when it is stored in the fridge.
Frymark recommends storing basil on the counter in front of direct sunlight. My new favorite method is to add basil to a glass so that the stems are immersed in water, similar to a bouquet of flowers. Then I easily cover the top with a thin plastic product bag. An open zip top bag also works.
This sits in a shady area on my counter and lasts for a solid week! This is at least twice as high as basil in the fridge.
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Other simple ways to extend basilus durability
There are a few other things you can do to keep basil even longer:
- Buy a great basil with which you can be together. “To ensure that it takes as long as possible, it is best to search for basil that is grown locally,” says Frymark. She recommends buying farmers or companies that harvest on site like Gotham Greens. Search for crispy, light green leaves without obvious dark stains and avoid packages with condensation.
- Tend to their basil. To keep the herb even longer, check it all or two days for gray, black or slimy leaves and remove them. Change the water, similar to you for cut flowers.
- Become creative for longer storage. If you have an excess of basil (luck!), Frymark recommends infecting the leaves in cooking oil and freezing the oil in an ice cube bowl. I like to make homemade pesto and freeze it in the same way to add pasta sauces or soups to add one or two frozen cubes.
