Chop Chop
Have you ever bought a bunch of parsley for a recipe and ended up throwing most of it away a few days later when it goes bad? That will never happen again! Below is my next food tip of the day for chopping, washing and storing parsley!
1) Gently rinse parsley and shake out excess water.
2) Remove all the leaves (try not to discard the stems, they can be used to flavor a nice stock or sauce).
3) Finely chop the leaves using a rocking motion with your knife – one hand placed on the handle, the other gripping the tip (see picture below). When you think you’ve chopped the leaves small enough, keep on chopping! It takes me a good 10-15 minutes to finely chop an entire bunch of parsley.
4) Place the chopped parsley in a cheesecloth sachet (a regular cloth dinner napkin twisted at the top will work) and run under cold water until the water changes from green to clear. This ensures the parsley is clean.
5) Squeeze all of the liquid out and then dry the parsley off in paper towel. It should be light, fluffy and clean.
6) Freeze the excess parsley and it will be available whenever a recipe calls! And the best part – no need to thaw out before using…. just sprinkle right onto your food or plate as a garnish!
May 12th, 2010 at 11:38 am
What a great tip. I always have this problem. I would have never thought about freezeing it.
May 14th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
What a great tip…thanks for sharing!
May 14th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
What do I freeze it in?
May 17th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Great question Lara! I put mine in a small stainless bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap because I go through it so quickly. If it will be frozen longer than a week or two, I would recommend putting in a freezer safe container or plastic bag. Just make sure your parsley is dry first!