Easiest and best way to preserve basil leaves for making pesto throughout the winter

Heres' the method:

1. Cut the leaves from the stems. (Since I am harvesting from my garden, I do not wash the leaves.)

2. Gently place the leaves in a freezer bag, then carefully press out the air from the bag and seal it.

[Photo shows basil leaves in freezer bags, basil leaves ready for bag, and remains of basil ready for compost. I use scissors to cut off leaves from stems.]

That's it!

When you open the bag months later, you will be greeted by a great waft of basil perfume.

Then quickly put the leaves in the food processor and proceed to grind them while they are still brittle. If they get thaw and get soggy, they won't grind into such fine flakes. Though the coldness of the leaves turns the olive oil to a whitish color, the pesto quickly warms to room temperature.

I find that the pesto I make this way is nearly as good as that made with fresh leaves.

Most people do not seem to know about this wonderfully easy method. I stumbled upon it when I had a large bunch of basil harvested and was about to go away on a trip. So I just put the whole bunch, stems and all, in the freezer. I have since improved the system by removing the leaves from the stems before freezing. Just recently in the Late Summer issue of Organic Gardening, I read the "harvest tip" of putting the leaves in an ice cube tray and freezing them in water. Besides being an unnecessary step, that ice cube method would not even work for pesto. In the interests of spreading this information, I'm putting it up on a webpage.

Nicky Hardenbergh