13 best recipes for harvesting greens at home for the winter

Fresh herbs can be prepared for the winter. There are many simple and interesting ways to prepare. Dried, frozen, pickled or pickled greens are an ideal addition to soups, borscht, salads, and vitamin drinks. It tastes like fresh herbs, and it contains a lot of vitamins. Preparation takes a minimum of time, but in winter, when everything in the store is expensive, it will help save the family budget.

Features of harvesting greens for the winter

Fresh dill, parsley, basil, sorrel - herbs that are abundant in summer, but in winter you have to buy them at incredible prices in stores. If you prepare greens for future use, you will not experience a shortage of this product throughout the cold season.

There are several known ways to prepare fresh plants for the winter: drying, freezing, canning, pickling. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

What you need to know when preparing greens:

• herbs for harvesting are taken fresh, green, without rot or unpleasant odor;
• depending on the preparation method, the leaves and stems are finely chopped or harvested whole;
• to store herbs you need plastic boxes or containers, freezer bags, cotton bags, jars with plastic or twist-off lids;
• use non-iodized salt, 9 percent vinegar;
• The smallest amount of vitamins is in dried greens, the largest in frozen ones.

Preparation of raw materials

The herbs are prepared during the height of the summer season. For preparation, take fresh herbs, purchased at the market or grown yourself. The herbs are carefully inspected, rotten or dry leaves and twigs are removed, washed in water and dried for 2-3 hours. It is undesirable to use greens that have stood in water for a long time or have wilted.

Methods for harvesting greens

There are 4 ways to prepare vegetation for the winter: drying, freezing, salting and canning. Greens prepared using one method or another will differ in taste, color and amount of preserved vitamins.

Drying green supplies

An easy way to harvest herbs.This method allows you to preserve the taste and aroma of the vegetation, as well as 50 percent of the vitamins. Before drying the greens, they must be sorted, rinsed in cold water, shaken off excess liquid, and dried on oilcloth. It is recommended to dry the herbs horizontally on a tray, a plywood sheet covered with paper, or hanging (in bunches).

On open air

Garden herbs can be dried outside. In summer, the herbs spread out in a thin layer are taken out into the fresh air and left in the shade under a canopy for several days. The main thing is that the sun's rays do not fall on the greenery, otherwise it will become faded. You can dry herbs on a windowsill, veranda, or on a rope under a canopy. Dry preparations are stored in bags or jars.

In the oven

The easiest and fastest method of harvesting garden herbs. The plants are dried on a dry baking sheet (on paper) in the oven at a temperature of 42-52 degrees for 1-2 hours. Dried herbs are stored in fabric bags or glass jars covered with a plastic lid.

Freezing

The collected basil, oregano, parsley, cilantro, dill are finely chopped and frozen in the freezer. This method preserves up to 90 percent of vitamins, as well as the natural color of plants. Before freezing, the greens must be washed, sorted, dried thoroughly, and finely chopped. Then place them in plastic boxes, containers or bags for freezing.

You can pour finely chopped vegetables into ice molds and pour melted, lightly salted butter, and then put them in the freezer.

Canning

To preserve greens, you need to prepare glass jars (0.5-liter or 1-liter).Dill or parsley is washed, dried, coarsely chopped and placed in containers. Then a marinade is prepared from water, salt, sugar and vinegar. Dill or parsley is poured with hot marinade, after which the jars are pasteurized for 10-16 minutes. After pasteurization, the containers are rolled up with lids and turned upside down.

Pickling greens

This method is much simpler than preservation and helps preserve up to 70 percent of vitamins. Dill or parsley is washed, dried for 4 hours, finely chopped and mixed with salt. For 1 kilogram of plants take 1 kilogram of salt. The mixture is placed in jars and covered with plastic lids. The preparation is stored in the refrigerator.

Preparation recipes

You can preserve the taste and aroma of greens collected from the garden in any convenient way. The simplest is drying, the more labor-intensive is preservation.

Parsley and dill for the winter

Those who want to preserve the aroma and rich green color of dill or parsley can be advised to use the pickling method. The greens are pre-washed, dried well, finely chopped and sprinkled with salt in a 1:1 ratio. Then the green mass is compacted into jars and covered with plastic lids.

Harvesting cilantro

Fresh cilantro can be dried or frozen. You can prepare this spicy herb in another way: pickle it. The cilantro is pre-washed, dried, chopped not very finely and placed in 0.5-liter jars. Then prepare a marinade from water (1 liter), salt (1 tablespoon), sugar (2 tablespoons) and vinegar (50 milliliters). The hot marinade is poured over the cilantro, after which the jars are closed with plastic lids.

Sealing sorrel with sterilization

In order to prepare green cabbage soup in winter, you need to roll sorrel at home in summer.Fresh leaves are washed, randomly chopped and placed in 0.5-liter jars. Then the containers are placed in a pan with hot water and heated for 5-10 minutes. When the leaves release juice and begin to droop, you can add more greens. Having filled the jar to the top, remove it from the pan and roll up the lid. You can add a teaspoon of salt to each jar.

Pickled green onions

You can prepare green onions according to this recipe:

• onion - 1 kilogram;
• dill - 205 grams;
• water - 1 liter;
• sugar, salt - 35 grams each;
• acetic acid solution - 55 milliliters;
• spices.

Onions and dill are washed, dried, and placed in 0.5-liter jars. A marinade is prepared from water, salt, sugar, spices and vinegar. Onions and dill are poured with hot marinade, after which the jars are pasteurized for 5-10 minutes and closed with lids.

Adjika with herbs and chili peppers

You can prepare an unusual and spicy snack at home. The taste of fresh herbs is best preserved in paste-like adjika.

This ready-made snack can be used as a spread on bread or as a sauce for meat or fish.

How to prepare green adjika:

• parsley - 1 kilogram;
• dill - 495 grams;
• garlic - 4-6 cloves;
• chili pepper - pod;
• salt, sugar - 35 grams each;
• acetic acid solution - 35 milliliters.

The greens are washed, the peppers are cleared of seeds. All ingredients are ground in a blender until pureed. Add salt, sugar, vinegar. Then the jars are filled with a paste-like mass and pasteurized for 5 minutes.

Dried parsley

The easiest way to prepare parsley for the winter. Freshly collected herbs are washed and dried on a towel. Then the parsley sprigs are laid out on a wide plate or tray and dried in the shade for 2-3 days. You can store greens in paper, linen bags, or jars with a lid.

Freezing dill and parsley

Fresh garden herbs are cut into small pieces, poured into ice trays, filled with plain water, then frozen in the freezer.

Dill or parsley prepared using this method has a long shelf life (up to a year) and retains its green color and aroma. You can grind the plants in a blender and put the mixture into ice cube trays. There is no need to pour chopped dill or parsley with water, the mass will harden anyway.