Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

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ChrisGreaves
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Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

... comes in bunches from the local supermarket.
I chop up several stalks and add the chopped herbs to salads, soups, sandwiches etc

But often the herbs rot; the leaves turn brown and slimy.

What success have you had in maintaining fresh sprigs of stuff?
I know it can be dried and preserved.
I can't buy a smaller bunch because I live in a big city in North America where the stuff is all pre-packaged and trucked 4,000 Km from the far side of the continent ( :sad: )

I've tried the rinse-drain-store in plastic bag trick.
I've tried the stand-in-glass-of-water trick.
I've tried the stand-in-glass-of-water in the fridge trick.


Note to Rudi: I mean, of course, that I stand the parsley in a glass of water ...
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Rudi
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by Rudi »

ChrisGreaves wrote:Note to Rudi: I mean, of course, that I stand the parsley in a glass of water ...
TX, that really clears things up. :laugh:

Have you tried freezing the fresh herbs (or 'erbs as you guys call it).

See here:
-- http://awaytogarden.com/how-to-freeze-p ... her-herbs/
-- http://www.preservingyourharvest.com/Parsley.html
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BobH
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by BobH »

Grow your own and pick only what you need. A large flower pot can become a very effective kitchen herb garden. Having several pots and planting each several weeks apart will ensure a supply for a longer period. Any excess is easily frozen or dried in the microwave.
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by steveh »

ChrisGreaves wrote:... What success have you had in maintaining fresh sprigs of stuff?
I know it can be dried and preserved.
I can't buy a smaller bunch because I live in a big city in North America where the stuff is all pre-packaged and trucked 4,000 Km from the far side of the continent ( :sad: )
Hi Chris

I have never tried with these veggies / herbs but I have had good success with flash freezing excess fruits when we had a much bigger garden. I have a ready supply of dry ice at work but I am sure that you could source some locally (This supplier The Iceman is in Adelaide Street West) quite cheaply (if you try, please make sure you do so in a well ventilated room and wear gloves as the burns are like heat burns).

For strawberries and Blackberries I have used a styrofoam container and put a layer of ice into the bottom of it (we use pellet ice but block should do the trick as well), lay a paper towel onto the ice and then a layer of the fruit or veg, put the lid on and leave for about 30 minutes and then place them into a zip seal bag in the freezer until required. All of the times we did this the fruit tasted like it had just been picked when we defrosted them.

The dry ice can be used for quite a lot of freezing of other things so the price could be quite cost effective

Just a thought
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silverback
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by silverback »

Chris
Option 1.
Here's how SWMBO manages to keep fresh cilantro (coriander to us Brits) and parsley for about a week.

Remove leaves from stalks and wash thoroughly.
Drain, but don't dry completely.
Line a plastic storage container with clean, dry kitchen towel and put (slightly damp) leaves on top.
Cover with another piece of kitchen towel, seal and put in the fridge.

They last about a week in remarkably good condition in our experience. Stalks are generally thrown apart from the ones we use immediately.

Option 2
Shop at an Asian supermarket (preferably Indian/Pakistani) which will usually have smaller bunches delivered almost daily (at least that's what happens in the UK).

HTH
Silverback

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Rudi wrote:Have you tried freezing the fresh herbs (or 'erbs as you guys call it).
"I know it can be dried and preserved."

Yup.
Back in the 70s in The Other Hemisphere. :aussie:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobH wrote:Grow your own and pick only what you need. ...
Hi Bob; I'd love to do this but growing space is at a premium in my apartment now. I could try to con Ms B into a herb garden on HER balcony and ship fresh stuff 10 Km (better than 4,000 Km), but she's into Flowers; and it is her balcony.
And I don't have it in me to feed brown sugar to her flower pots and then suggest she switch to herbs ... :evilgrin:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

steveh wrote:... The Iceman is in Adelaide Street West...
After this past winter, the locals here would KILL me if I imported ice from ADELAIDE, of all places !
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

silverback wrote:Remove leaves from stalks
OK, thanks Silverback; I'll try removing the leaves, although it seems a bit picky (and I have too many free organ concerts to go to; I wonder if the churches would object to me doing the equivalent of shelling peas during a concert ....?)
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:What success have you had in maintaining fresh sprigs of stuff?...
And then by an amzing coincidence what do I see in today's Toronto Star but this snippet (to coin a ...):-
"For longer storage, place stems in a glass of water and cover with a plastic bag attached with a rubber band."

I'm going to give this a try, and call it greenhouse-in-a-fridge.
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BobH
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by BobH »

We've had some luck with the sprigs in water and covered, but we snip a fresh cut on the stems to overcome any 'healing' that might have started. We've also done the paper towel in a bag trick using those green bags and had good success. With the herbs I grow, we either freeze it in the very small zip lock baggies or dry it in the microwave. When the sweet basil starts coming in in quantity, our kitchen smells like an Asian market.
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Claude
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by Claude »

As a general rule in our household, if we want to keep veggies, herbs and (cut) fruit, we sprinkle fresh lemon juice on it and put it in the fridge. The other option is to put stuff into vacuum bags and, after removing the air, put it in the freezer or fridge.
Cheers, Claude.

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Rudi
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by Rudi »

Apparently, keeping fruit and veg in sealed plastic bags or in any sealed Tupperware - except vacuum packed, actually speeds up the deterioration of the product as it releases some gas that decays the product in the sealed environment. Always unpack fruit and veg and leave open in the fridge (or for longevity, vacuum seal).
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Rudi wrote:... Always unpack fruit and veg and leave open in the fridge (or for longevity, vacuum seal).
Well then, let's see.
Here's a photo from yesterday:
HPIM7360.JPG
If I were doing this again, I'd keep the stalks in the original rubber-band-bound bunch and trim the stalk ends off en masse with a large kitchen knife, just to reduce the agony of labouring to re-assemble the bunch after snipping individual stalks.

(can you say "batch processing"?)
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Rudi
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by Rudi »

Is the experiment ongoing or is this the end result?
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Rudi wrote:Is the experiment ongoing or is this the end result?
Yes :evilgrin:

Ongoing; I'm going to leave these two glasses for as long as it takes for the first one to go "bad".
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Rudi
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by Rudi »

I look forward to the result of this experiment.
Then I can tell me wifey if her advice is wives tales or not.
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by zuk_jadoon »

I've installed a fresh case in my fridge and it can preserve veggies/fruits for weeks.

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Fresh Cilantro, Parsley etc.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

zuk_jadoon wrote:
27 Dec 2021, 13:44
I've installed a fresh case in my fridge and it can preserve veggies/fruits for weeks.
Thank you Zuk, and welcome to Eileen’s Lounge.
When you say “fresh case” do you mean some sort of air-tight plastic container, or have you been to the market and bought a case or “flat” of parsley?

I have developed an elegant solution to the problem of fresh parsley, based on the responses in this thread over the past seven years.
I have changed my supply of parsley, my refrigerator, and for $60,000 plus expenses, bought a house just over 2,000Km to the east. Instead of a 1-bedroom, no-balcony, no direct sunlight apartment, I have a three-bedroom house with fifteen trees and direct sunlight on all sides.

The laundry room has become one of my rooms that holds live plants, and this room is maintained at 5ºc throughout the winter.
20211227_141125_HDR.jpg
Here is my parsley plant; the sage and mint are off to the left.
20211227_141135.jpg
Besides fresh parsley I am able to over-winter my promise of primroses and a little stock of pink geraniums which I will plant out next June or July.

If only you had posted three hours earlier I would have been reminded to sprinkle fresh parsley on my pasta-and-meat sauce lunch!

Cheers
Chris
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