Freezing Cilantro

One thing that I'm working on for 2012 is to eliminate food waste. With only two of us in the house, it is not uncommon for us to not be able to finish something before it spoils. (Despite the fact that I work from home and cook and eat almost every single meal right in this house!)


In 2011, I learned that freezing bread is like magic, because it lasts forever and literally thaws like new in under 5 minutes. (I always thought it would turn out mushy or something, but that's not the case in the least!) I now buy bread only about once a month, and still always have some on hand when a sandwich is all I have time to make!

In 2012, I have made another discovery - freezing cilantro!

While cilantro is pretty cheap, it still kills me to have to dump half of the bunch almost every time I buy it. I knew there had to be a better way.

This weekend, I stumbled upon an article called How to Freeze Cilantro from Blork.org. Eureka!

The process is pretty easy:

• Wash the cilantro in cold water
• Separate the leaves from the stems
• Chop the leaves
• Stuff the leaves into an ice cube tray (we have an icemaker, so I had to empty out my earrings in the ice cube tray I had been using as an organizer) :)
• Fill trays with water
• Freeze
• Remove cubes from tray and put in ziploc bag

Now, when I'm ready to make salsa or some other cilantro-filled delight, I just need to thaw out a cube or two, and I'm good to go! They say it doesn't work well as a garnish, but should be fine in salsas and guacamoles (my specialties!).

UPDATE on 1/7/2012:
I used some of the frozen cilantro in guacamole yesterday. It turned out great! I only used one cube, though, which wasn't enough for one a one-avocado guacamole. Next time, I'll use two.