RECIPE: How to Freeze Chives

How to freeze chives (and other herbs) to use in winter.

 

In the past, I froze all herbs rolled into logs, wrapped in a small plastic bag, and the bag wrapped in cling wrap.    I secured the bag with tape, added a small label, and stacked the rolls in a zip-top bag.

Basil logs ready for the freezer.

Storing herbs this way enables me to use farm herbs all winter long!  It also protects them a little from getting freezer burn because they're packed so tightly.  When I need to use them, I pull a log out of the freezer, slice off as much as I need, wrap it back up and put it back in the freezer.  For those recipes where I use a LOT of a certain herb, like Fatteh, I will make giant logs!

Slicing a frozen log of parsley

 

Now, I'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic I use, and the amount of plastic touching our food, so I froze this year's chives wrapped in parchment.  I still secure the parchment with a strip of tape and a label, and stack them in a zip-top bag, but the zip-top bag can (and will) be reused until it falls apart.  I may be able to reuse the parchment - we'll see how it survives freezing.  

Here's how I did it.

First, I washed and dried the chives.

Then I cut them into 5" long pieces that would fit snugly into the zip-top bags.  

 

I separated them into 1" bunches and wrapped them in parchment.  One inch rolls are the easiest size for me to slice when they're frozen. 

 

Parchment is slick, and doesn't stick to itself or to tape, so I used a piece of tape long enough to wrap around onto itself to hold the parchment in place.  I always fold the end of the tape over so I have a way to remove it.  In the photo below you can see the small tab of folded tape.  This enables me to remove the tape when I want to access the chives.

 

I put a small sticker on the end of the tape with the year and the name of the herb.  In this case I also wrote the name of the farm because we grow our own chives and I freeze them separately.  

Once the chives are rolled, I fold over the ends of the roll and stack them in a small zip-top bag.  I do this partially to protect the chives from the cold of the freezer, and partially to keep them together.

I can fit three logs into one snack bag, and two snack bags into one quart bag.  Double bagging them protects them from freezer burn.  I could wrap them in foil instead, perhaps I will try that with the next batch.  (When I stack them into the zip-top bags I alternate the side the label is on so that I can see what's inside regardless which side ends up in the freezer.)

Chives keep well in the fridge.  The amount above is from 3 weeks of farm days.