How to keep cilantro fresh for the winter? This question is of interest to many who want to preserve the useful properties of this plant for all frosts.
What is cilantro?
How to keep cilantro fresh for the winter, you can learn from this article. Fans of this plant in abundance. After all, she has many useful properties and qualities.
In fact, cilantro is the coriander greens. It has been actively used in medicine and cooking for many centuries. Cooks and doctors knew about her back in the Middle Ages. When the plant has not yet matured to the end, it has a characteristic piquant smell. It is because of him that gourmets love coriander.
When the plant begins to ripen, the west changes significantly. It becomes more tender, soft. But, of course, this is not the main advantage of cilantro.
Useful properties of cilantro
It is important to learn how to keep cilantro fresh for the winter because it has a positive effect on the digestive system. This is one of its main advantages. In parallel, the plant can stimulate appetite, is an excellent choleretic agent.
At the same time, greens contain a large number of useful vitamins and other substances that can positively affect your well-being and health. In addition to vitamins, these are all kinds of trace elements. With the help of cilantro, you can get rid of scurvy, it actively treats gastric problems. Cilantro is especially appreciated in the Caucasus, adding to various dishes as seasoning.
When the cilantro is cut in the summer, it is customary to store it in the refrigerator. To do this, it is best to wrap in paper or put in a jar of water. However, cilantro is not available year-round, so you have to contrive in order to benefit from it in the winter months. Many for this make blanks of green cilantro for the winter. In addition, to do this at home is not difficult. There are several common methods. You can use the one that is closest to you and seems the simplest.
Where does cilantro grow?
It is believed that the homeland of cilantro are areas of the Eastern Mediterranean. It was brought to Western and Central Europe by the Romans. In the same way, it ended up in Great Britain after the Roman conquest in the first century AD. There she took root well, and for a long time she was cultivated in the counties in the southeast.
Cilantro came to America in the era of the great geographical discoveries. She was also brought to New Zealand and Australia.
In Russia, the first mention of cilantro was found in the XVIII century. They write about it as a garden plant. In particular, its detailed description in 1784 is given by the domestic scientist and agronomist Andrei Bolotov. It is also known that in Russia it was called "gut". This clearly indicates that this plant came to our country from the East. The influence of the Turkic or Iranian languages is noticeable in its original name.
Methods for harvesting cilantro for the winter
One of the simplest and most common methods for harvesting cilantro is drying. It allows you to store greens for a long time and not lose its beneficial properties. After all, after drying, all valuable substances remain in it. Thus, it can be stored for about a year.
So, you have decided to eat cilantro all winter. Harvesting for the winter should begin with the fact that the plant should be thoroughly washed first in a basin, and then under running water. Please note that there should be no earth, sand or insects on the leaflets. After that, let the water drain and let the leaves dry a little. Next, the cilantro needs to be cut into large pieces, because after drying it will significantly decrease in size.
Now take a tray or any flat dish, cover it with paper and spread the cilantro in a thin layer. Leave to dry it in a dry and well-ventilated place. For example, in the attic or on the veranda of a private house. The oven is also suitable for the drying process, it must be heated to a minimum - at a temperature of about 40 degrees.
Stir the greens periodically so that mold does not start in it. For the winter, you can dry whole branches. To do this, they are tied into small bundles and hung upside down. In this case, cover with a cloth or light paper. This is the oldest drying method that our ancestors used many centuries ago.
When the cilantro is completely dry, it is poured into a clean glass jar, or into a canvas bag. The main thing is that in this seasoning mold or food moth does not start. Then cilantro can be stored with you for at least a year.
Cilantro freeze
If not only the nutritional, but also the external properties of the plant are important to you, use freezing. So you can preserve its bright color, which is the decoration of many dishes, and nutrients.
How to freeze cilantro in a freezer? To begin with, it should be sorted out and washed thoroughly. Then dry with paper towels.
Next stage. Cilantro is either cut or completely frozen with twigs. In both of these cases, it is tightly packed in plastic trays or bags and in this form is already sent to the freezer. There it is stored until the next summer season.
If you make stocks of several varieties of greens, then it is recommended that each container be signed and put a date on it. So finding the product you need will not be any difficulty.
Remember that after freezing, the taste of cilantro changes a little.
Cilantro in marinade
For long storage, it is advised to put cilantro in the marinade. Harvesting for the winter in this form will provide you with an excellent salad dressing for several months.
For the marinade you will need 300 milliliters of water, a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of 9% vinegar.
To start, boil water, salt it and add vinegar. Wash the cilantro and place it in several small jars. But not to the edge. The marinade should be completely filled with greens so that it completely covers it. When the jars have cooled, pour one large spoonful of vegetable oil.
This is one of the effective ways to keep cilantro fresh for the winter.
Cilantro with salt for the winter
To save cilantro for the whole winter in the refrigerator, it can still be salted. To do this, you will need a lot of glass jars, herbs and salt at the rate of 20 grams per 100 grams of seasoning itself.
It is necessary to apply only fresh coriander, which has not yet managed to bloom. Carefully sort it out so that there are no dry or yellow branches. Then wash thoroughly, dry and cut.
Stack the chopped seasoning in jars, ramming and pouring salt. Tamp so that juice appears. After that, close the jars with lids and place in the coldest place in your refrigerator. Best away from doors and as close to the freezer as possible.
In conclusion, it should be noted that cilantro is best combined with meat dishes. Often it is added to fresh salads, soups. The plant is often used in oriental cuisine, for example, in khachapuri or lobio. Often used in pita bread, eaten with cheeses. This gives the dish a pleasant and rich taste.