Using up fresh herbs from store

[shootingstar]

We do buy fresh herbs and try to use them.
But at least 30% of time, we are not vigilant enough to use them up before they rot or not consistent enough to salvage them by drying them for use later.

Are people here like us? Or you just use up what you buy without wasting?

The above thought came to me, after I stumbled across info. about fresh herbs used in Vietnamese dishes. I didn't recognize 50% of the herbs at all.
http://vietworldkitchen.typepad.com/blog/vietnamese-herb-primer.html

I realized that when I buy any fresh herb I tend to want to know in advance what to do with it before buying. Hence, I wouldn't just buy a bunch of unknown herbs and run home to find a recipe.

[OakLeaf]

If the herbs come in a sealed plastic package, it's actually a special plastic that lets ethylene gas escape and doesn't let oxygen in, so they will keep for a surprisingly long time if you re-seal the bag after every use.

If you've bought them in bulk, treat them like you would fresh flowers. Prepare a mason jar with a few inches of cold water, cut a half-inch or so off the stem ends of the herbs under running water, then immediately put them in the jar and cover the tops loosely with a plastic bag (don't seal it), and put the whole thing in the refrigerator. Most herbs will keep at least a month this way, often six weeks, especially if you're good about changing the water and pulling out any sprigs that do start to go bad.

That said, I often have some losses if it's something I don't use all the time...

[Cataboo]

If I know I need to use up fresh herbs, I will quite often just cut them up and put them in a salad. I'm eating the salads anyways and it gives me interesting new flavors.

Otherwise, I will just tie up the bag and toss them in the freezer for some day that I'm desperate for cilantro and don't want to run to the store just to buy some. I do that with ginger or garlic or whatever that's about to go bad as well. Maybe they lose some flavor from fresh herbs, but they're still more flavorful than dried herbs.

[shootingstar]

I have never covered any fresh plant tops loosley with plastic with ends in water and stuck it into the fridge. Will try that some time.

Have never frozen ginger nor garlic. We buy enough for awhile but manage to use it all up with very little waste. Of course we only cut or crush what we need per meal. We use both nearly daily. :D For instance, yesterday I bought a ginger root the size of my whole hand. It's the average amount of ginger root we buy each time.

I understand the convenience for some people to buy pre-crushed garlic in a jar or peeled whole garlic cloves in a bag....but to me, it seems like already a loss of flavour. However convenient for cooking a huge dish of something.

[OakLeaf]

Actually, I looked at the link you posted, and they give the identical advice for storing herbs :)

I do freeze ginger, but garlic keeps a long, long time (as in months) in a garlic keeper or dark bin.

[Cataboo]

That's actually a good link - lots of herbs that I've eaten all my life, but never actually knew the names to 'cause my Mom only knew the vietnamese names to them.

Lots of them I just grow in my garden anyways, so keeping them fresh isn't a big deal.

[GLC1968]

I'll admit it. We waste fresh herbs when we buy them. :o Particularly cilantro since I almost always reduce the quantities I use in recipes.

Thanks for the ideas of freezing or storing in water like flowers - I don't know why I never thought of either of those things!

Luckily, we don't buy fresh all that often because we usually use herbs we've grown (either fresh or dried from last year) and that seems to work well enough. Additionally, I tend to save recipes that use a lot of fresh herbs for summer time cooking.

[rubywagon]

I chop/freeze all the herbs I will not be using, into small cubes (one cube per meal size). It does work well.

[Crankin]

I have thrown herbs out on occasion, but not cilantro, as I find it lasts and i use it a lot.
Otherwise, I try to sprinkle them on all sorts of foods in an effort to use up. But, if a recipe calls for just a teaspoon or two, I recently started buying these new single serving fresh herb packs. Down side is they are very expensive. Otherwise, I have been known to substitute dried.