Tomato's Best Friend - Basil!

This year it is still "Tomato" season, but I am sharing with you some advice o what to do with the tomato plant's best friend, Basil!  I always plant basil with my tomatoes.  Not only are they excellent together in sauces and stews, they help each other during the growing season.  The tomato plant offers a nice shade and the basil fends off pesky disease and attracts those coveted bugs to keep your tomato plants fertile and healthy!  Isn't that just like best friends to work towards the benefit of the other?

If you have not planted basil with your tomatoes, I urge you to keep um in mind for next year.

I use as much fresh basil as I can when it is fresh from the garden, but when winter comes, my basil will die off in this harsh Minnesota winter.  I can't bare to have much of anything go to waste and have tried a variety of methods to preserve basil.  Freezing is my favorite way to preserve that fresh basil flavor.  Here is how I do it:

Pick off the top lush branches, leaving the plant to grow and produce more.

Wash in cool water.

Clean them really well.  It is growing in the garden that harbors bugs!  You will want to wash all of them off before freezing.

Pull the leaves from the stem and discard with any browned or yellowed leaves.

Roughly chop.

I use my food processor.  Wipe the sides of the bowl when chopping to keep the chopped leaves uniform.

Measure when putting in your ice cube tray, then fill with water.  Tip!  Use filtered water or buy some spring water.  My favorite is Kandiyohi water.  Water does matter!  If you pour after in a glass and blind taste test it, you will notice a difference!  That flavor is added to your dish or mojitos!

Put in the freezer; once frozen place in a freezer bag marked with the amount in each cube.  Use for your next sauce or stew!

Stay tuned for one of my next posts with directions on making "basil" fresh mojitos!

TTYL!