I stumbled across a fantastic food tip recently while surfing the food blogosphere. Marc over at Mental Masala (the very same Marc who was responsible for the solar cooker I posted about a couple of weeks ago) offers a terrific way to keep fresh basil perky and lush for weeks (if you happen not to use it up before that). When you bring it home from the grocery store/farmers market/backyard, clip the ends off and stand the basil stems in a glass/yogurt container/old jelly jar that has a few inches of water at the bottom. Then take a plastic bag and cut some holes into it. If you have a plastic bag that was precut, all the better. Then put the bag over the glass full of basil and place it someplace that gets light but is not in direct sunlight.
I've been astounded how well this works. I've never been able to keep basil fresh more than a few days and the basil you see in the picture above has been going strong for over 10 days. I used it last night and there was no absence of flavor. The secret is the plastic bag, because I've certainly tried to keep basil sitting in a container of water for a few days, but within a few hours it is limp and sad. Thanks for the tip, Marc!
photo by Marisa McClellan
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