The rains are here at last and while it’s great to get some respite from the heat, the season brings its own problems and most of them concern the kitchen. Care has to be taken to store vegetables as they rot faster in the humidity. The problem of spices getting mouldy and fruits and vegetables rotting was not so severe a couple of decades back. This was mainly because most families bought their vegetables daily instead of storing in the refrigerator. Spices too were freshly ground. Here are some ways to keep your herbs fresh.
Snip off a little bit of the stalk like one does with flowers whose stems are too long for the vase. This will give us a fresh base. Place the herbs in a cup or a shot glass (if you have a small bunch) with only the stalks under water. This will keep your herbs fresh for a day or two. If you want to keep them for longer, cover the herbs (not the stalks) with a piece of plastic and tie it with string or a rubber band. With the stalks still in water, put the cup or shot glass in the fridge. This will keep the herbs fresh for a week. For long-term storage, microwave the herbs for a couple of minutes, put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate.
If using water seems a bit messy, a simpler way is to wrap the herbs in wet cloth and store them in the fridge. This will also keep for more than a week. Herbs like parsley and coriander also keep for long if you wrap them in a dry paper towel and place them in a ziplock pouch and refrigerate. However, ensure that the herbs are completely dry else the paper will get wet and rot. You can always freeze you herbs by putting them in an airtight bag and bunging it into the freezer but do remember that frozen herbs lose a lot of flavour and colour when defrosted.
Here’s another cool tip. If you have cut apples or pears in your fridge and don’t want them to look brown (they often do) when you serve, briefly soak them in a bowl of lightly salted water.