The Best Storage Method To Preserve Fresh Thyme

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You've mastered baking with fresh herbs like a pro and gleaned everything you need to know about cooking with thyme. But, lacking your own garden, storage has become the biggest obstacle preventing a pronounced pivot to using more fresh herbs in your recipes. Thanks to science-minded chefs and home cooks, preserving a bunch of fresh thyme in your fridge requires only a little bit of water and a quart-sized container with a lid.

There are four basic elements preventing thyme from enjoying an extended stay in your fridge: Light, air, moisture, and temperature. While we have a relatively easy time controlling light, temperature, and air (or oxygen), moisture is a little trickier. Too much water and thyme quickly becomes a pile of goo while too little moisture causes the herb to dry out and lose potency. To achieve the perfect balance, start by washing and spin-drying the thyme when you get home from the grocery store. Then, add 1 inch of water to a quart-sized container — ideally a glass jar or plastic deli container with a lid — trim a bit from the stalks and place them upright like flowers in a vase. Put the lid on, gently folding the leaves if needed, and store the thyme in your refrigerator. Believe it or not, but fresh thyme should last for several weeks, perhaps even months, when using this method.

Although storing thyme bunches upright in a lidded container is the best way, there are alternative methods for preserving fresh herbs. If you don't have a quart-sized container on hand you can wash and dry the thyme, wrap it loosely in a damp paper towel, and stash it into a Ziploc Slider bag before storing in the refrigerator. Another method involves blanching, chopping, and freezing thyme in neutral-flavored oil, either in ice cube trays or flattened in a Ziploc bag. Blanching the herbs beforehand helps to deactivate enzymes, which would otherwise cause loss of color, flavor, and texture during the freezing process.

Other than freezing, drying is the only other way to preserve the flavor of herbs. But, considering how long it takes, you may as well buy them from the grocery store for the occasions when it's better to use dry vs fresh herbs.