How to properly freeze dill for the winter in the refrigerator: in bags, containers, bottles

By the time December arrives, every housewife wants to keep dill as aromatic and tasty, as if it had just been picked from the garden, with all its beneficial properties. You need to prepare the greens in advance so that you can later use them as a flavorful addition to homemade salads or meat.

Freezing dill is healthier than preparing it by drying it. When dried, a number of taste qualities disappear, and the aroma of young, juicy greens from the garden is lost. Drying also takes a lot of time, but freezing is much faster. It is convenient to freeze dill in the refrigerator for the winter in bags or in a bottle, container or other convenient container. To get a fragrant, fragrant seasoning for your dishes, follow our tips.

How to properly freeze dill in a bag

The easiest way to store greens is in a bag. This will make it convenient to place the bags on the shelf no matter the size of the freezer. When choosing a product, adhere to the following rules:

Dill, which is intended for freezing, must be fresh, young, without yellowness on the leaves or other overripe parts.
It should have a pleasant aroma and taste. Stale and dried branches that give off an unpleasant odor or have no odor at all will not be stored in the refrigerator; the plant will have a cumin aroma and will be unusable after defrosting.
Dill should have a thin stem, without signs of flowering or damage from insects.

Proper freezing consists of the following steps:

We recheck the dill for the presence of yellow stems and various damage. If necessary, cut off unnecessary, yellowed stems.
We wash the trimmed dill under warm water. Place it on a cotton towel. For complete drying necessary for freezing, leave the bouquet of dill to lie in the shade without direct sunlight.
We cut the dill, dried from water, into pieces and again leave it to dry for a short time, since when cutting the dill, its own juice remains, which needs to be dried.
Prepare plastic bags and place the dill in them, distributing them evenly throughout the bag. Ideally, take special food ones that have an airtight closure.
Put it in the freezer.
During the first cooling, the air is released from the bags, making them airtight.
We take it out and double-check it for leaks, and put it back in the freezer for storage.

Important! If it is necessary to preserve the product for a short time, use a refrigerator and keep the dill at a temperature from 0 to +4.

Another option is to preserve dill in bunches, in portions: skipping the chopping stage, divide the dill into bunches and put them in bags. Leave it like that in the freezer. If desired, add spices to taste in bags with dill bunches.

How to select and prepare greens

Each procedure for freezing vegetables requires some preparatory measures, dill is no exception. Before freezing, you need to familiarize yourself with important requirements:

select fresh, bright green feathers without yellow tips or damage;
use only young plants with thin stems, with missing inflorescence umbrellas;
The most delicate high-quality dill greens are formed in early summer.

Selected spice sprigs are easy to prepare for freezing. The plants are sorted out, freed from debris and foreign weeds, and washed thoroughly in running cold water. The greens, slightly dried with a waffle kitchen towel, are ready to freeze.

How to freeze dill for the winter in a container

If there are no bags, food containers (trays) are used to store food. They take up more space, but hold more product. Convenient to use if you need to prepare a large amount of dill. Sequencing:

We take a new container. We wash it with warm water.
We clean the dill from old stems, cutting off yellow shoots and damaged parts of the stem, if any.
We rinse the dill under warm water, spread it in a thin layer on a paper towel and wait until it dries. To do this, leave the bouquet of dill on the table for 2 hours.
We place the dried dill in a container in bunches or chop it with a knife and place it in this form. If you add a piece of butter there, this will help the dill retain its natural properties longer.
Seal the container tightly with a lid and place the dill in the freezer.

It is important to know! There is no need to open the lid again to release the air, as is the case with teabags. The air that is in the container is quite enough for comfortable freezing.

Freezing in bunches

The fastest and easiest way to prepare dill for the winter is to store it in the freezer whole. The stems and thick twigs are also edible, and have a spicy aroma even more than the leaves. To avoid the taste of sticks in dishes, the greens are chopped finely. When frozen, it cuts very easily.

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So how do you freeze bunches?

Soak greens in a large bowl of cool water. This will make it juicier and help loosen any lumps of dirt if there are any.
Rinse the dill under the tap and hang it on a string to dry. Or you can simply lay the herbs on the table with a towel to absorb excess moisture.
Fill the bags with herbs and tie them. You can package it in plastic containers or wrap it in cling film. Dill is also stored well in foil envelopes. It is better to immediately divide it into portions. Although this is not at all necessary - frozen herbs are crumbly and very easy to separate.
Place the packages in the freezer. It is advisable to freeze the greens in the fast freezing mode.

Dill can be frozen in its pure form or combined with other herbs - parsley, basil, oregano, arugula, rosemary. Create your own bouquets based on your favorite dishes and taste preferences.

How to freeze dill in a bottle

Freezing dill in a bottle is the fastest way - you won’t need to look for a special container or wrap the greens in bags. How to properly pack dill:

Rinse the branches of greenery under warm water, first checking them for damage.
Let the stems dry and chop. Dry again to remove any escaping juice.
Then you should put the chopped dill in a bottle, previously sterilized, and close the lid. To better preserve the greens, add an ice cube. Place the bottle in the refrigerator for further freezing.

Make sure that there are no foreign odors in the refrigerator that could give the dill a completely different smell. To do this, first rinse the refrigerator and freezer in which the greens will be stored using disinfectants. This will kill bacteria and remove unpleasant odors. Also, you should not store dill together with berries or other products that have their own special smell. This is especially important if unsealed bags are used for storage.

How to Freeze Dill in Ice Trays

To keep the dill fresh, use ice cube trays. The dimensions of this shape are ideal for the freezer. This method is convenient if the product is being prepared for later use in a soup or stew - it will be convenient to throw portions of ice into the boiling broth.

Sequencing:

Rinse the dill under warm running water and remove the yellow, limp branches.
Drain and dry the greens on paper towels.
Chop the dill sprigs and place it in an ice tray.
Drop a couple of drops of water into each cell to make it easier to remove frozen briquettes later.

After such freezing, for convenience, the workpieces are transferred to ordinary bags or other containers for further storage.

You can use broth or oil instead of water. If you prepare greens according to this recipe, after removing them from the freezer, you can immediately throw the dill into the dish when cooking.

Methods for freezing dill

There are various ways to freeze dill. After reading them in this article, you can choose your ideal option.

How to freeze dill with whole sprigs

Small bunches are formed from clean and dry dill, while selecting branches that are bright green without yellowing. Next, place the dill in containers or freezer bags. The bags are then rolled into a tube to release as much air as possible. Place the filled containers neatly in the freezer.

Before using dill frozen in this way, it must be slightly defrosted at room temperature, literally a couple of minutes. Then chop it like regular fresh dill.

Freezing dill in a bag or containers

For this preparation, washed and dried dill is finely chopped. If necessary, remove all petioles. By the way, the petioles can also be frozen and then used to flavor vegetable broths.

Then the dill slices are placed in a large container or bag and put in the freezer. It is important not to squeeze the dill in the bag so that after freezing it does not stick together and it would be more convenient to take.

There is no need to defrost this dill. It is simply added to the dish during cooking.

Chopped dill in portion bags

This is a variation of the previous method, but more convenient. Small bags for one-time freezing are used here. It is best to use zippered bags. Chopped dill is placed in bags and placed in the freezer for pre-freezing. After a few hours, they are taken out and, pressing with your hand, all the air is released from them. Then close the zipper and put it back in the cold for long-term storage.

See the video recipe for freezing dill for the winter from the channel “Cooking with Irina”

Freezing dill in foil

This can be considered an alternative option if you don't have small freezer bags. Small envelopes are made from foil, into which chopped dill is then placed. The edges of the bags are carefully twisted to prevent air from entering.

You can also freeze a large amount of aromatic greens in foil. It is convenient to do this kind of freezing for big holidays, when a lot of dill is needed for preparing dishes.

How to Freeze Dill in Ice Trays

A popular way to freeze greens is in ice cube trays. Dill in this case does not require drying at the preliminary stage. It will be enough to simply shake off excess liquid from the branches. Next, the greens are finely chopped and placed in a dense layer in ice molds. A small amount of water is added to each cell on top. The filled forms are placed in the freezer for a while. After complete freezing, the dill ice cubes are removed from the cells and transferred to bags for further storage in the freezer.

How to freeze dill in foil

Using foil is a good option when freezing greens. It helps maintain the desired temperature and protects against heat in case the refrigerator suddenly turns off.

Sequencing:

Cut off a sheet of foil. If you cannot decide on the dimensions, then take the length and width of an A4 sheet as a basis.
Then place the dill in the middle and smooth it over the surface. Leave 3-4 cm of free space from the edge.
Next, wrap the sheet first on both long sides and fold the short edges.

After this, fold the resulting layer in half and place it in the freezer.