Instructions

1. Set up your vacuum seal unit. These units are priced from as little as $10 to over $100. Experience has shown that a $10 unit from the grocery store will do the job just fine. Of course, some higher priced units will even flatten a tin can. It all depends upon your expectations.

2. Clean your herbs without using water. Pull off any spoiled leaves and trim stems with scissors. If herbs were sitting in water or recently misted, let them dry before you vacuum seal. Vacuum sealed wet herbs will turn in mush in no time at all.

3. Fill a bag with herbs. Do not put more herbs into a bag that what you intend to use at one time. Opening and then resealing the bag will spoil all your hard work. If you have a recipe that includes several herbs like rosemary, thyme and bay leaf, vacuum-seal the quantity you need in a single bag.

4. Vacuum seal the bag. Once all the air from the bag it will be flat and stiff. If properly executed, fresh herbs should be protected from oxidation, dehydration, freezer burn, mold formation and the growth of bacteria.

5. Label the contents of each vacuum-sealed bag with a fine-point permanent marker.

6. Decide whether you are going to freeze or refrigerator store. Rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, sage and chives freeze quite nicely. Delicate herbs like basil, cilantro and flat leaf parsley last for a week or two in the refrigerator when they are vacuum-sealed. However, the freezing these delicate herbs does not yield satisfying culinary results.