Soft Summer Herbs

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Preparation

Another key to using up all the herbs you buy is to prep them in advance. Then you can just reach into the fridge, grab a handful and toss them into whatever you are cooking. Picking and washing fresh herbs doesn't have to be a chore, as long as you know how to do it properly. First, soft herbs are often full of sand and dirt and they need to be thoroughly rinsed in cold water. It's easier to wash some herbs whole, while others work better when the leaves are picked before they are washed. Once washed, store them properly to get maximum shelf-life.

Parsley, cilantro, chervil, basil and mint are easier to handle when you pick the leaves first and then wash them. Working efficiently is key: Set up a salad spinner (to hold the picked leaves) and a bowl (to hold stems and any leaves that you will discard). Lay the bunch in front of you. Holding one sprig at a time, pick all the leaves directly into the spinner and place the stem into the discard bowl before picking up another stem. This way, once you are finished, you can simply fill the salad spinner with cold water to let the dirt and sand wash off the leaves while you transport the stems to the compost pile. Once the leaves have soaked in the water, pull out the strainer bowl from the spinner, drain the water out of the bowl and spin the leaves dry. Place the picked leaves into a quart container with a very slightly damp paper towel and seal with a lid. Most of the herbs will hold for a week in the fridge when stored this way.

Chives are easiest to wash as a whole bunch. Simply remove the rubber band and hold them under running water, sorting through the chives like a deck of cards to make sure that all the sand washes away. Wrap the chives in a piece of paper towel and place in a Ziploc bag to store in the fridge. The chives can even be cut with scissors into small pieces and stored in a container like the picked leaves.

Dill and tarragon are the only fresh herbs that are better preserved when they are not kept too moist and when they are kept on their stems. To store dill and tarragon, rinse them as if they were chives, dry them thoroughly in paper towel and store them in an unsealed plastic bag.

Once your refrigerator is stocked with ready-to-use fresh herbs, you will find it easy to use them in abundance in all your summer meals.