Cilantro is one of those herbs when added to that right dish, brings out the flavor that is hard to replicate. Any real chef knows how important it is to use this herb and certain meals are not complete if it is not used in the cooking process.
Cilantro is great, but one of the negatives is that if you try to keep it for an extended period of time, it will often get mushy and brown in the fridge. If you keep it outside of the fridge, it will get dried out pretty quickly. So how do you store cilantro and what is the best way to ensure that it keeps fresh longer?
Below are a couple of methods that will maximize the amount of time you are able to keep this herb.
In a Jar in the Fridge
If you really want to extend the life of your cilantro, one of the best options is to keep it in a jar in the fridge. When done properly, you should be able to keep them for up to about two weeks or more.
You really don’t need much, just:
- Cilantro
- A mason jar or any jar you have laying around
- Fresh water
- Plastic bags
Steps
- Snip the ends off the cilantro stems
- Fill up the jar with water
- Place cilantro in the jar with water and cover with plastic bags
- Place in the fridge and you will be able to store it for up to two weeks (or longer) and it will still be totally fresh.
The Paper Towel Method
The paper towel method has been proven to be really good at extending the life, freshness and crispness of cilantro in the refrigerator. It is actually pretty simple to do and all you will need is:
- Cilantro
- paper towel’s
- Ziploc bags
Steps
- wash your cilantro
- shake off the excess water as best as possible
- You are then going to take the cilantro and wrap it in paper towels. If you have a lot, you make sure one bunch is covered first, then roll again to make sure the other section is covered.
- You are then going to take it and place it into a Ziploc bag, making sure that all the air is pressed out of it.
- Place it in the fridge and use as needed.
With any of the methods mentioned above, you should be able to store your cilantro for around 2 weeks and you do not have to worry about it being unusable and wasting perfectly herbs.
You Can Also Freeze It
If you have a good amount of the herb and you don’t think you will be using it in a couple of weeks, then you can also go about freezing it. This will allow you to keep the cilantro/coriander for a couple of months and you can always pull from the stash every time you want to use it.
