There's A Better Way To Store Your Parsley

Using fresh herbs is a simple way to brighten and elevate any dish. Unless you're growing the perfect parsley at home, you'll likely run into a scenario where the supposedly fresh herbs at the store are looking soggy and wilted. Thankfully, there's a traditional hack passed down from generation to generation that's a better way to store your parsley. 

It starts with giving your herbs a deep soak in a bowl full of cold water. Next, pull them out, shake them dry, and then wrap them in a paper towel. Remember that parsley is fragile, so keep a gentle touch as you work. Enveloping them in a paper towel wrap protects them from oxygen and the coldness in the fridge, retaining moisture without drying out. This is to recreate the optimal condition for keeping the product fresh from the plant. This process is similar to how grocery stores mist fresh produce at timed intervals.

Your paper towel should be damp, but not soaked. You'll want to place your wrapped parsley into a medium or large plastic bag, pushing out the oxygen. Feel free to write your date of storage on there, then you're good to go. Your herbs will last days longer, and you can reuse the bag and recycle the paper towels.

Now, if you have an abundance of fresh herbs that you know you won't be able to use in a timely fashion, or you want to save your herb harvest from the garden for those dreary winter months, remember that you can freeze your fresh herbs. It's simple to do, too. Just finely chop up your parsley or other chosen herb, then put the bits into an ice cube tray. From there, you have two options: You can either put water over the herbs or you can use a cooking oil, which will retain more flavor. Once your parsley cubes are completely frozen, you can prevent freezer burn by covering the ice cube tray or transferring the cubes to another air-tight container.

Refrigeration and freezing are great solutions if you have way too much parsley on your hands — imagine fresh summer herbs that you can enjoy in the dark winter months. If your parsley is starting to wilt, you can dry your herbs using a microwave or a dehydrator. However, all you need to store fresh parsley is a little time and some extra freezer space, and you'll be good to go!