How to properly preserve parsley for the winter at home
Parsley is a frequent guest in every kitchen; housewives cannot even imagine some dishes without this spicy fragrant spice. In summer, it's simple - just go to the garden and pick up fragrant leaves, but in winter it's more difficult - you have to be content with purchased greens. It is not necessary to do this - spice stocks can be prepared in advance. Before storing parsley at home for the winter, it is recommended to study a few simple rules and tricks that will allow you to have fragrant herbs on the table throughout the year.
Harvesting parsley, harvesting
Before you start harvesting spices, you should understand the features of harvesting and preparing greens for storage. You need to choose healthy plants, the leaves should be a rich dark green hue. It is recommended to deal with winter stocks throughout the warm season - this will not affect the taste and useful properties, the main thing is to collect high-quality raw materials, without signs of pests and diseases.
If you plan to prepare greens and rhizomes, it is better to start digging out the culture in the fall. It was at this time that the spice accumulates in the underground part the maximum amount of healthy elements.
Divide the collected parsley into parts - the leaves are separate, the roots are freed from sand and earth, rinsed, dried. Proceed carefully so that the soil does not get on the curly leaves - it will be difficult to wash it.
Storing fresh parsley in the refrigerator
If you plan to use parsley in the near future, it is not necessary to deal with harvesting - within a few weeks the spice will not lose its presentation, taste and useful qualities. It is recommended to store curly leaves and root separately; use containers that can be tightly closed for this.
Before sending plant parts to containers, be sure to rinse them, let the water drain (use a colander for this). After washing, get rid of excess moisture with a napkin. It is not necessary to completely dry the spice - a small amount of moisture will prevent the leaves from drying out.
Winter storage methods for parsley
There are several easy ways to preserve the flavor and healthiness of a spice. It is not necessary to use all the recipes or conduct experiments - you can choose the most suitable and simple options that will allow you to easily cope with the blanks.
You can use the following methods for storage for the winter:
- freezing (capable of preserving all vitamins);
- drying;
- salting;
- storage in oil.
There are no particular difficulties in preparing spices for the winter; even an inexperienced housewife who is starting an interesting and useful activity for the first time at home can cope with the processes.
Freezing
The most popular among housewives is frozen spice - keeping parsley in the freezer is obtained without loss of taste and useful qualities. You can do it simply - rinse the greens, completely remove moisture, form them into small bunches and put them in containers for freezing.
The disadvantage of this method is that after defrosting, the presentation is slightly lost, and problems with slicing appear.
A more convenient way to freeze is to chop the greens first. Put the resulting gruel into bags (it is recommended to take small bags for one use), send to the freezer. You can add other aromatic herbs, chopped garlic arrows. In winter, it is enough to get a cube of spice and send it to a sauce or soup to get a fragrant dish that smells of summer warmth. They freeze parsley for the winter by simply rubbing it with salt - such a preparation is added to butter in winter and used for sandwiches.
Drying
Another way of processing plant raw materials - drying - will help to preserve the aroma, wonderful qualities, taste and medicinal properties for the winter. The preparation does not require any special difficulties:
- Rinse plant materials, take away spoiled leaves.
- Put on a napkin, towel, remove moisture.
- Arrange in one thin layer on a baking sheet previously covered with parchment.
- Send plant materials to the oven (the temperature should be no higher than 50 degrees).
- Dry by stirring the leaves regularly, allowing them to get rid of moisture evenly.
Fill glass containers with dried parsley, which can be tightly closed. You can also use linen bags for storage for the winter, but in such cases you will have to regularly check if the leaves are damp.
You can dry the parsley in a pre-chopped form. Using spice powder is simple - add it to an almost finished dish.
Salting
Salting parsley for the winter is a simple process, but it allows you to preserve all the useful qualities of greens. For five parts of crushed leaves - one part of salt. It is important to take a product without iodine - iodized salt can shorten the shelf life of pickles.
Salt the parsley simple - chop into a homogeneous gruel, grind with salt, fill pre-washed containers. Put greens in a jar tightly, tamp with your hand, trying to remove air bubbles.
Important! The last stage of salting for the winter is to cover tightly and send to the refrigerator or basement.
In oil
For the winter, you can cook parsley in oil, which is often served as a ready-made sauce for meat dishes. The recipe is simple:
- Chop up the parsley.
- Put plant materials in a jar.
- Add a little salt if necessary.
- Pour vegetable oil over the parsley.
Store the workpiece in the refrigerator for the winter. If necessary, take the right amount of greens, cover tightly and send back to the cold.
Parsley is a spice with many advantages, and one of them is excellent storage over a long period. You can use it for winter preparations in different ways, each of them is good in its own way, so it is not necessary to limit yourself to just one. The main thing is that the spicy aroma and piquant taste will delight you all winter, reminding you of warm summer days.
