Summer is a time that pleases us and our loved ones with an abundance of fresh and tasty greens. In winter, it is more expensive, and its useful properties are highly questioned. Fortunately, there are many ways to preserve your favorite greens for future use and use them in cooking, even in winter.
Drying in the open air
To begin with, the greens need to be carefully sorted out, get rid of coarse, lethargic and damaged leaves, then rinse and dry on paper towels. Then the greens are laid out in a thin layer on a tray / baking sheet, placed in the shade in the open air and mixed periodically with your hands to dry evenly. The readiness of the greenery must be determined by its fragility: the leaves should break easily when compressed.
… It loses color, taste and vitamins, and crumbles into powder when compressed.
Drying in the oven
The greens need to be sorted out, rinsed, dried. Then finely chop and put in a thin layer on a baking sheet, put in the oven at 40 degrees for 2-2.5 hours. At the end of drying, the temperature can be increased to 45-50 degrees. Readiness is determined by the fragility of the leaves.
Freezing
We also sort out my greens. Then very much. This is necessary so that the greens do not stick together when frozen. Finely chop the dried greens and put them in a freezer bag. We put it in the freezer. During the time it is very easy to get a handful of herbs from the bag and sprinkle it on the dish.
Freezing greens in ice cubes
A very convenient way to prepare soups, stews and vegetables. The greens need to be washed and finely chopped, put in ice cube trays and pour over with concentrated broth, olive oil or melted butter. Once frozen, the cubes can be removed and stored in bags in the freezer.
