The spreading gourd is often not particularly welcome in your own garden, but as a kitchen ingredient it is a true aromatic delight. In this article, we'll tell you how you can preserve groundweed from your green oasis or the forest.
How can I preserve groundweed?
To preserve gourd, you can dry the leaves, freeze them, pickle them in s alt or pickle them in oil. Each method allows for different shelf life and is suitable for different uses in the kitchen.
How can you preserve groundweed?
The best methods topreserve the spicy leaves of the gourdweed are:
- drying
- freeze
- pickle in s alt
- soak in oil
What should you pay attention to when drying groundweed?
Dried gourd leaves are suitablefor tea and green smoothies, in soups or as a spice. How to dry:
- Collect undamaged gourd leaves with stems on a dry day.
- Clean carefully (without water!).
- Hang in small bunches in a shady and airy place. Alternatively, dry in a dehydrator at less than (!) 40 degrees Celsius to preserve the valuable ingredients as much as possible.
- Store dried gourd in screw-top jars.
Attention: The leaves must be absolutely dry, otherwise they will easily mold in the screw-top jar.
Shelf life: 1.5 years
How do you freeze groundweed correctly?
You can use frozen whole gourd leaveslike spinach. If you chop them up beforehand, they are atasty herb. This is how freezing ground greed works:
- Collect leaves and remove dirt and vermin at home.
- Cut or chop if necessary.
- Blanch briefly if desired (not mandatory).
- Fill finely chopped herbs into ice cube trays with a little water; Place as whole leaves in freezer containers or bags.
- Store in the freezer.
Important: Do not refreeze after defrosting!
Shelf life: 1.5 years
How do you pickle groundweed in s alt?
S alted gourd is a wonderful ingredient forsalads, but also forwarm dishes. It's that easy:
- After dry cleaning, cut the leaves into small pieces.
- Pour into a clean screw-top jar.
- Mix with coarse and fine sea s alt (all leaves must be covered with s alt!).
- Close the jar.
- Keep in the fridge.
- Refill s alt regularly.
If you want to remove the leaves and use them, rinse them briefly in a sieve and then add them to your food. You don't need to add any additional s alt to these.
Shelf life: 1 year
How do you pickle groundweed in oil?
For a specialsalad dressingor a specialsauce, soak gourd in oil. Choose olive, sunflower or rapeseed oil, preferably organic. This is how it works:
- Chop the cleaned gourd leaves very finely.
- Pour layers of chopped leaves into a clean screw-top jar and sprinkle each with a pinch of s alt and cover with the chosen oil (no air should remain between the layers).
- The top layer is entirely oil (about a centimeter thick).
- Close the jar.
- Keep in the fridge.
Shelf life: 3 months
Tip
What else can you conjure up with greedweed?
Giersch, for example, can also be made into a fresh, delicious herb pesto of a slightly different kind. You can also make herbal vinegar with the leaves.
