How to freeze cilantro for the winter?
Cilantro is the green part of coriander with a spicy scent. It is widely used in the preparation of salads, main courses, soups. Coriander leaves are added to fish and meat, and are also used to prepare winter supplies. Cilantro has a positive effect on the body as it contains many useful elements. Spicy herb stimulates the appetite, stimulates the outflow of bile and is simply necessary for stomach diseases. Cilantro is also used in the treatment of heart diseases.
To provide your family with a healthy spice all year round, cilantro can be frozen for the winter. The positive aspects of this storage method are that it is the fastest. Frozen greens taste slightly different from fresh ones. But it does not lose its useful properties. It is worth considering that cilantro, like other frozen herbs, does not need to be defrosted before use.
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There are two ways to freeze cilantro:
- whole branches;
- chopped leaves.
Freezing whole branches of cilantro
To freeze cilantro with twigs, the green mass should be carefully sorted out, select the dried twigs and fill with water. Rinse the greens and spread them on a paper towel to dry. The water remaining on the branches in the freezer will simply freeze and take up extra space in the bag.
Sort dry twigs into small bunches and tie them with a thread. Stems that are too long can be cut off. Place the twigs in plastic bags or plastic containers, close tightly and put in the freezer.
If there are already vessels with a different type of green in the freezer, so as not to get confused, they are signed.
Freezing cut leaves
To prepare greens in this way, you will need a form in which ice is frozen, and food foil.
The freezing procedure consists of the following steps:
- Rinse cilantro sprigs and tear off the leaves.
- Chop the leaves with a sharp knife.
- Carefully put chopped greens into an ice cube tray and pour 1 teaspoon of cooled boiled water (or olive oil) into each cell.
- Place the mold in the freezer overnight.
- In the morning, knock out ice, frozen together with herbs. Wrap each piece in food foil.
- Fold the portioned greens into a common bag or container.
The advantage of this method is that the greens are already divided into portions, and you do not need to defrost all the cilantro.
Freezing cilantro in butter
With the help of foil, you can also make sausage freeze. To do this, mix chopped cilantro with butter (soft) in a 1: 1 ratio. Put the mixture on foil and roll up with a sausage. This "sausage" is stored safely for a year.