Three Ways I'm Preserving Herbs from My Garden...

My herbs have officially taken over. And I couldn’t be happier about it.

There is something genuinely magical about walking out your back door, picking fresh basil or rosemary, and using it five minutes later in whatever you’re cooking. Farm to table doesn’t get more literal than that. But when your garden starts producing more than you can use in a week, you have to start thinking ahead — and that’s exactly what I did.

I wanted to find ways to preserve what I’m growing so I can enjoy it long after the season ends. I landed on three methods: frozen pesto, dehydrating, and herb salt. Here’s how each one went.

Frozen pesto. This one was almost too easy — mostly because I’d just gotten my Souper Cubes (did you read last week’s post? I’m still obsessed). I whipped up a simple pesto with basil, tahini, red wine vinegar, and olive oil, poured it straight into the silicone trays, froze overnight, and popped the cubes into a labeled zip lock bag. Individual portions of fresh pesto, ready whenever I need them. Easy peasy doesn’t even cover it.

Dehydrating. I recently got a dehydrator and this was my inaugural voyage. I washed and dried the herbs, laid them out, and let the machine do its thing for about 12 hours. They came out perfectly — completely dried, full of color, and they smell incredible. I stored them whole in small glass containers, labeled everything, and now I have dried basil, purple basil, mint, spearmint, rosemary, and lavender lined up and ready to go. Seeing them all together honestly made me so happy. Something about preserving food you grew yourself just feels really satisfying.

Herb salt. This one was the simplest of all three. Rosemary, oregano, and salt into the food processor, pulsed until the herbs were chopped and everything came together. Spread it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and baked at 250°F for 15 minutes. Let it cool, transferred to a glass container, done. It’s beautiful and smells amazing. One note for next time though — I think I’d skip the food processor for the salt and just pulse the herbs separately, then mix them into the salt by hand in a bowl. I want it a little more gritty and textured rather than fully blended. But it absolutely gets the job done and it’s going on everything.

Finding ways to extend the life of fresh things is genuinely my favorite kind of kitchen project. There’s something so satisfying about pulling a cube of pesto from the freezer in January that came from basil you grew in June. That’s the whole point.

More garden updates coming — the tomatoes are almost there. 🌿