On Sep 13, 11:32�am, stark > wrote:
> On Sep 13, 8:58�am, "James Silverton" >
> wrote:
>
> > I should mention that I don't freeze cilantro. It's not worth the
> > trouble since it keeps for a week at normal refrigerator temperature and
> > I can buy a fair sized bunch for 50 or 60 cents (US). What I wish I
> > could do is reliably find it with roots, which add to several Vietnamese
> > and Thai recipes.
>
> The cilantro I buy is far more perishable than parsley, usually
> turning to glop in 3 to 4 days. But some of the flat leaf parsley is
> as tough as thin cardboard. It's gotten so I have to shop for parsley
> and some weeks all purveyors are selling the same tough stuff. Ah me.
Why don't yoose all grow your own... cilantro and parsley are about
the easiest plants to grow... 1 sq ft of ground is more than enough to
grow all a big family can possibly use. You can grow it in pots too
but it does much better in the ground. I prefer curly leaf parsley so
that's all I grow... I don't care much for flat leaf and to me
cilantro tastes like Octagon soap. I've been snipping parsley from my
little patch all summer and since it grows faster than I can use it I
now have more than enough to freeze for all winter... I pull up the
roots, clean and freeze those too, excellent for stock.
Parsley is a biennial, the root will send up leaves the next year but
they will be malformed and taste funny, it's best to grow new each
year.
A problem with growing herbs in pots is that they need to be in full
sun and so the pots get very hot and the plant's roots cook... they'll
grow if kept well watered but planted directly in the ground you'll
havest ten times as much and far better quality. My parsley patch is
handy for snipping right outside my back door alongside my deck.
Curly leaf parsley, and below is the reason for the fence:
http://i34.tinypic.com/333k56t.jpg
Resident bagel moochers yesterday dusk:
http://i33.tinypic.com/10h936u.jpg
Visiting moochers right now:
http://i38.tinypic.com/900f2g.jpg
http://i36.tinypic.com/20pvuht.jpg