I'm a beer brewer, and I am a huge fan of preserving things into a different food stuff. beer is just preserved grain?!?
How about basil oil.
I am not talking a few sprigs drowned in a bottle of oil with a dainty ribbon tied around it. Be careful with raw or fresh foods preserved in oil, you can get very sick and possibly hurt someone. Food Born Illness
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I am talking a bright almost ink-like green oil that is scented and flavored like basil, or pretty much any herb you use.
to make 1 -2 quart of oil:
2 - 4 lbs. of fresh basil
1-3 lbs of fresh parsley (more or less depending on basil amount)it just adds more green with little flavor interuption
1 - 2qt. of good oil, (not the exspensive strong olive oil), canola, peanut, grapeseed work great.
A nice striner that you can set over a container fo a day or two.
several layers of cheese cloth
A large pot of boiling water
Ice bath
A good blender
1. dip herbs for 5 - 10 seconds in boiling water then quickly move to ice bath. this breaks the cloroform cells so they are easier to extract.
2. make sure the herbs are dried thoroughly and chopped to shorten any fibers in the plant. It makes it easier for the blender.
3. in the blender, start pureeing the herbs with about a cup of oil until they are a paste. add about 2 more cups of oil and puree for 5 - 10 minutes. the more you smashh the cells the more green you will get
4. strain the mixture several time through cheesecloth. i/e. 1st time no cloth, 2nd two layers of cloth, 3rd 4 layers of cloth. the clearer the oil, the longer it will last. If you are patient you can get it crystal clear, but green like a st patrick's day beer
5. make sure to remove any water left in the mixture, it falls to the bottom usually.
6. store in an air tight container away from light and excess heat.
great for garnish, awesome on icecream, beautiful salad dressings.
I made green mashed potatoes with chive oil.
I have used it to make green sausages, but the green cooks out.
green is the new purple!
Smoke on and garden on
Cheffy