We grow a lot of herbs in the summer – rows and rows of basil, thyme, sage, mint, chives, oregano, shiso, dill and tarragon.  What we don’t use immediately, we preserve. Drying herbs is a smart and effective way to preserve herbs, which we do a lot of, but by freezing herbs, you preserve their fresh flavors and vibrant colors.  What I love about our frozen herb bombs is how easy and quickly it is to defrost one or two and make a colorful dressing, or drop directly into a simmering pot of soup or sauce.  It’s easy to add a big boost of flavor and color to rice, potatoes, pasta or polenta.  Try these on a roasted chicken or grilled fish – amazing.  I don’t bake, but I would imagine there’s a lot you could bomb with baking!

TO MAKE HERB BOMBS:  All you need is good oil, fresh herbs and ice trays.  You can use a single herb or a combination of herbs, like chives and dill or basil, thyme and oregano.. Adding minced garlic, dried chilis, adobo or citrus makes for a great combination with fresh herbs.  Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil or sesame oil all work great!  Consider how you’ll use these flavor bombs and that will help you determine what oils and what combination of aromatics you’ll use.  For example; I know I’ll be making dressings so in one of our trays I combined garlic, thyme, chives, lemon zest and extra virgin olive oil. Since we make so many dishes with sesame oil, I made batches with our mint and shiso and added fresh minced ginger.  It’s fantastic!

• Depending on the size of your ice trays (some have bigger compartments than others) you want about 2 tablespoons chopped herbs or a total of 2 tablespoons of combined ingredients (like garlic, citrus zest, chilis, or additional herbs)

• With fresh ingredients in the trays, fill compartments to about 1/8th inch from the top with oil of your choice.

• Place filled trays in the freezer.  Once frozen, gently warm the bottom and pop herb bombs out into ziplock bags or jars and store in your freezer for up to 6 months. Enjoy summer herbs all year long!

Knowing how much pasta and pizza we eat, I froze basil pesto in these long tube trays (found at Kitchen Kaboodle). Once frozen I put them in ziplocks.  We’re totally ready for winter pasta!