How to save parsley for the winter at home

Parsley is a frequent guest in every kitchen, housewives cannot even imagine some dishes without this piquant fragrant spice. In summer, it’s easy - just go to the garden and collect fragrant leaves, but in winter it’s more difficult - you have to be content with purchased greens. It is not necessary to do this - stocks of spices can be prepared in advance. Before storing parsley at home for the winter, it is recommended to learn a few simple rules and tricks that will allow you to have fragrant greens on the table throughout the year.

Parsley harvesting, harvesting

Before you start harvesting spices, you should understand the features of harvesting and preparing greens for storage. You need to choose he althy plants, the leaves should be a rich dark green hue. It is recommended to deal with stocks for the winter 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 up the crop in the fall. It was at this time that the spice accumulates the maximum amount of he althy elements in the underground part.

Divide the collected parsley into parts - the leaves separately, free the roots from sand and earth, rinse, dry. Act 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 preparations - for several weeks the spice will not lose its presentation, taste and useful qualities. It is recommended to store curly leaves and root separately, using 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 a few easy ways to preserve the flavor and he alth benefits 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;
• s alting;
• storage in oil.

There are no special difficulties in harvesting spices for the winter, even an inexperienced housewife who starts an interesting and useful activity at home for the first time can cope with the processes.

Freeze

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 into small bunches and arrange in containers for freezing.

The disadvantage of this method is that after defrosting, the presentation is slightly lost, and there are problems with slicing.

A more convenient way to freeze is to chop the greens first. Put the resulting slurry 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, fragrant dish with summer warmth. They freeze parsley for the winter, simply rubbing it with s alt - such a preparation is added to butter in winter and used for sandwiches.

Drying

Save the aroma, wonderful qualities, taste and medicinal properties for the winter will help another way of processing plant materials - drying. The preparation does not require special difficulties:

1. Rinse plant materials, select spoiled leaves.
2. Put on a napkin, towel, remove moisture.
3. Spread in one thin layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Send vegetable raw materials to the oven (the temperature should be no higher than 50 degrees).
5. Dry, stirring the leaves regularly, allowing them to evenly get rid of moisture.

Fill glass containers with dried parsley that 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 whether the leaves are damp.

You can dry parsley in a pre-chopped form. Using spice powder is easy - add to almost ready dish.

S alting

S alting parsley for the winter is a simple process, but it allows you to save all the useful qualities of greens. Five parts of crushed leaves - one part of s alt. It is important to take a product without iodine content - iodized s alt can reduce the shelf life of pickles.

S alting parsley is simple - chop into a homogeneous gruel, grind with s alt, fill pre-washed containers. Put greens tightly in a jar, tamp with your hand, trying to remove air bubbles.

Important! The last stage of s alting for the winter is to tightly cover 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:

1. Chop parsley.
2. Put plant materials in a jar.
3. Add some s alt if needed.
4. Pour vegetable oil over parsley.

Store the blank for the winter in the refrigerator. If necessary, take the right amount of greens, cover tightly with a lid and send back to the cold.

Parsley is a spice with many virtues, and one of them is excellent storage for a long period. You can use it for preparations for the winter 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 please you all winter, reminding you of warm summer days.

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