It took a lot of effort for me not to shove my face into all the basil when I opened up the boxes from Nichols. The aroma screams summer. There are a lot of different tips out there on the best way to store basil. The most popular is the basil bouquet method where you treat it like a bunch of flowers and keep it the stems in a vase of water. Obviously, we did not do that. I’ve found in my experience (I worked at a pasta restaurant for awhile that used lots of basil), that stored as picked basil leaves in the refrigerator give the best combination of shelf life and ease of use. Picking the leaves also makes it much easier for us to wash the basil, and ensure that it is completely dry before we store it. A very cold refrigerator will give the basil cold damage and cause it to go bad quickly so I prefer to keep it in the door, or front of the fridge.
Dill is in the carrot family and shares fresh green notes with other members in the family like parsley or cilantro. Its recognizable woody characteristic is from a chemical that is unique enough to dill that it is name after it: dill ether. Dill is popular in northern European cuisine, often served with fish, as well as in Mediterranean sauces and slaws. It’s also used in the handfuls in a Persian rice dish called Baghali Polo.
