Cooking with fresh herbs.

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Hello😀 I am so excited! My next door neighbour who has an allotment has just gave me some of his left over herbs. They are all in a big pot each. They are lemon grass, parsley, mint, coriander, rosemary, thyme, basil, chives, dill and sage. What can I do with them.. Can I dry them, or is it better to use them fresh. He is such a kind man and always gives me fresh veg out of his allotment. (I look after his cats and dog whenever he goes away on holiday and also water his allotment and greenhouse plants in return, I also pick up his large bags of compost when I go shopping). He gives most of his stuff away as I think its more of an hobby for him as his wife died about 4 years ago. Bless him he is in his late 70's.

Oh no! Meant to put this in chat.. Sorry 🙁

You can freeze them, I chop up and put into freezer bags

Basil use fresh while you have it..it won’t last over winter, and discolours on freezing and doesn’t dry. so keep it moist and in sunshine and use as much as you can in anything tomatoey - add into the dish at last minute. Don’t overcook. You can use raw in salads as well. Keeping cutting and it should sprout up fresh leaves for weeks….be generous with amounts you add- handfuls of stuff at one hit. I have basil on my windowsill most of year bought from supermarkets- keeps about 4 weeks of me cutting it and regrowing then buy a replacement pot.

mint, rosemary, thyme and sage are all “woody” herbs…they can all be dried and then put into sealed glass jars to use as you wish. Pick them on the stalks and dry them somewhere cool and dry (not a humid room), like a clean airing cupboard then rub or pick off leaves when dried. All these need to be cooked in whatever dish you are preparing for at least 10- 15-mins once dry. All of them can be used fresh and cooked or even added to cold dishes and not cooked- but chop very finely and use smaller amounts.
parsley and coriander are quite alike - they don’t dry at home as well. Use fresh while you can by chopping and sprinkling into dishes just before serving and then any left chop and add into ice cube trays ,top up with water and freeze. You can drop a few cubes into whatever you want to use it for unfrozen and cook. Again add towards the end of cooking time. They may discolour a bit on freezingnbutnifngoingninto a dish you’ll not notice.
Chives are great sprinkled over dishes just before serving, don’t really carry their flavour once cooked . Chives will freeze ok but will discolour so not as good to sprinkle over things after freezing- need to be stirred in and warmed through
. Dill is so delicate it doesn’t freeze that well - try to use while fresh as even dried (it will dry) it looses its real flavour- use with fish, in salads, or make the fab scandi mustard dill sauce which is great with fish or ham or veg. Alternately use loads of dill in a Gravalax - especially if you can plan a special meal…dead easy to do and cheap if you get salmon on offer….it takes loads of dill and then use the rest in mustard dill sauce to go with it. you could give some back to your neighbour! . I’ve frozen left over gravalax though and then used in cooked dishes like a fish pie or pasta sauce, or stirred into scrambled eggs. I tend to freeze it in 1inch slices to allow me to be flexible for what I use it in. Defrost with care and ensure well heated through and don’t overcook.

if they’re in pots they should all be possible to keep growing over summer in those pots in somewhere light, warm ish and soil kept moist. Don’t over water…herbs like hot dry places to grow normally. Dry and freeze in late summer or as soon as they start to look past their best.

if you have a garden plant out the “woody” herbs and they’ll over winter fine. Just plant the mint in a container into the soil though as it is extremely invasive and you’ll have mint everywhere! They need light and warm spot in the garden in well drained soil

I use loads and loads of herbs…I think they must add up to one of my portions of veg a day!

They are so nice when used fresh.

I often blitz big batches of herbs with a bit of olive oil or melted butter, splash of water, lemon or lime juice and zest and garlic in the food processor and stir them into rice or drizzle like a pesto over potatoes or meat.

They are great stuffed into the cavity of a chicken, fine chopped in an omelette, sprinkled over roast veg, added to soups. DH is making strawberry and basil ice cream today so you can get adventurous too.