Dry basil is blah.

If you don't like pesto, chop the leaves, add a tad of water, and freeze in an ice cube tray.

Chopping basil first will bruise the leaves and cause them to turn black on freezing, unless they're mixed with something else - as in pesto. I have successfully frozen whole leaves just in a plastic container or plastic bag, and I've heard that if you blanch them first, they won't turn black. I've never had the problem, so I haven't tried blanching first.

Dried basil is, at best, boring and bland.

I use ice cube trays and I'll mix extra vigin olive oil and leaves and then turn on the blender. Freeze them and add to various recipes over the winter. Nothing turns black.

I have also frozen whole basil leaves in water and they stay green. Cheers, Jk

so would you cut the whole plants to the ground? or just chop off the big sections of leaves?

do you need to separate the leaves? or just leave them in decent sized bunch still attached to the stalk/stem?

(hope you dont mind me asking these questions on your thread).

Rjinga,

I feel removing leaves from the stem makes it easiest in the long run (you don't want to chop the branches w/ the leaves, if that is what you were asking). I've partially filled bags with basil/oil, basil/water, and done cubes with them as well. I made cubes by putting basil leaves in a small food processor, adding either oil or water, then putting in ice trays and freezing. After they are solid, I put the cubes in bags. Another way if you would like to keep the leaves whole and in my experience prevent an icy build-up is to first put a single layer of leaves on a cookie sheet then when frozen, transfer to a plastic bag. When I put directly into bags, they seemed to have some icy build-up despite being dry, I guess from the moisture in the leaves? Good luck and I hope this helps some. :)

Kathy