Basil

[Vanessa]

I once had a strawberry cocktail with basil that was quite good. It was the Living Room in Leeds which means the concept was excellent but the execution iffy.

 

v

[g.johnson]

But freezing would be okay... ?

I would guess so, with the further proviso that freezing doesn't do a good job of killing bugs, so that thawed pesto should be treated with the same circumspection as fresh.

[g.johnson]

Freezing seems different from canning. The containers, while tightly closed, are not airtight in the same way that allows botulism to grow.

In the case of flavoured oils, it's not so much the airtightness or otherwise of the containers as the solubility of oxygen in oil. Oxygen disolves quite easily in water but not in oil. So aerobic bugs thrive in watery foods (unless discouraged by salt, sugar, vinegar, etc.) and inhibit the growth of anaerobic bacteria. In oily foods, the anaerobic bacteria thrive, even if the container is open to the air.

 

This is really a question for the Balic, however.

[Daisy]

Arrrgh. I have been freezing a basil/oil/salt combination for years and then thawing at a later date to make pesto, soup, etc. Now I learn that in my ignorance I may have been playing with fire. I have read a lot about the inadvisability of storing homemade flavored oils in the fridge for more than a short time,but have never seen anything about freezing herb/oil emulsions. Can someone point me to more info on this subject?

[g.johnson]

Maybe I wasn't clear. I think freezing should be OK, but after thawing treat as fresh.

[Daisy]

Gotcha. Thanks.