From watching cooking shows, it occurred to me that most use fresh herbs quite often. Knowing that herbs have a great bearing on flavor, I picked up several at the market even though they are substantially pricier than dried herbs. They have a different flavor than dried herbs so I figured to experiment with them.
What a disaster! Within a day or two most had wilted or turned to green mush in my refrigerator and I had to toss about 10 dollars worth before I even used them. The one exception was Bay leaves which seem to keep for weeks with no problem. Apparently there was more to storing these than dropping them in my produce keeper.
On researching this initial disaster I discovered that fresh herbs have stringent storage needs:
- They should be stored in the refrigerator.
- They should be stored with their stems in water.
- The leaves should be kept as dry as possible.
- For ease of use, they should be washed and dried before storing.
On analysis, I have decided that storing fresh herbs is far too much effort and takes up too much fridge space for too small a return. This may be fine for a cooking show that has a large budget and only needs to store enough for that day’s filming, but it does not fit my busy lifestyle and crowded refrigerator. I do try to keep a pack of fresh Bay leaves since these have much better flavor than dried, are inexpensive, and store well with minimal effort. Aside from that, I no longer purchase fresh herbs.
I have not totally given up on fresh herbs though - I have planted a few in my garden. This is easier than it sounds and most will do quite nicely in a flower pot on a window sill if you don’t have a garden. I will discuss growing herbs further in the future.
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