Can I keep herbs in the freezer?

[Sassy Syrah]

I am experiencing a invasion of the pantry moths. Although I have taken measures, I have all my flour in the freezer and bayleaves everywhere! I have thrown away all the infiltrated products. I scrubbed all the surfaces in the pantry down with bleach. They are few and far between now, but they still are around in small numbers. Is there anything else I can do? I am at my wits end. Despite this, they seem to really like my chilli flakes. It was an almost brand new jar that I bought after I had thrown many herbs and flours away, and all this webby stuff was in there. So my question is can I keep it in the freezer? Or will it lose its potency?

Mean Chef, if you decide to reply to this, please answer whether or not I can keep it in the freezer. Your succinct answers are often confusing when there are multiple questions.

[Kiss*My*Tiara]

Parsley or basil can be mixed with olive oil and frozen in cubes, (but they are better in the fridge) Chop the herbs in a food processor, add olive oil until it becomes a paste. You can loosely wrap most herbs (Basil, parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary, mint...etc...) and store in the crisper of your refrigerator. Herbs that come in bunches (like basil or mint) can be put in a glass with a little water (like flowers). It looks pretty too. Did you try growing herbs in pots outside? We have mint growing along the side of our house and it's taking over the neighborhood! That stuff grows like weeds.

Were you talking about dried herbs though? Maybe if the moth problem is that bad, you should only buy fresh. Fresh is so much better, I hardly buy dried.

[:(]

Having had worked with many dried flowers making flower arrangemants, I often found a problem with these little buggers coming in the product I was purchasing. They would pack the flowers with moth balls but it still didn't seem to help.
The low down is you're not going to get rid of them until you stop shopping at the place where you're picking them up at.
And here is another little thingy that might be of help, although using the bay leaves is helpful as well-
http://www.gardensalive.com/item_display.asp?ProductNumber=8909
You can pick those up at garden centers and nurseries as well.
You will also want to freeze your spices like pepper flakes for a couple of days and then take them out of the freezer (if there is no room) but when you do, make sure you have them securely wrapped or sealed (several plastic ziplocks might hold them off a little while). Don't keep those in there for a long time as it isn't really good for the spices.
It's ok to keep your flour in the freezer though.
I will add that the moths probably won't go after your herbs, they go after the peppers because moths like fruit and technically chiles are a fruit.

[Sassy Syrah]

Kiss~My~Tiara wrote:
Parsley or basil can be mixed with olive oil and frozen in cubes, (but they are better in the fridge) Chop the herbs in a food processor, add olive oil until it becomes a paste. You can loosely wrap most herbs (Basil, parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary, mint...etc...) and store in the crisper of your refrigerator. Herbs that come in bunches (like basil or mint) can be put in a glass with a little water (like flowers). It looks pretty too. Did you try growing herbs in pots outside? We have mint growing along the side of our house and it's taking over the neighborhood! That stuff grows like weeds.

Were you talking about dried herbs though? Maybe if the moth problem is that bad, you should only buy fresh. Fresh is so much better, I hardly buy dried.

I only keep them for reserve really. Dried chilli flakes are quite handy to me, because I tend to kill my chilli plants. The chilli appears to be my main problem. I do have basil, parsley, chives(ordinary and garlic), thyme (ordinary and lemon), oregano and unidentified one (smells like apple and has light green and yellow leaves) that I should post for you gardening folk to tell me what it is. The basil will die over winter and I doubt it will come back, depends on how frosty it is, but everything else survives pretty well.

[Sassy Syrah]

Sue L wrote:
Having had worked with many dried flowers making flower arrangemants, I often found a problem with these little buggers coming in the product I was purchasing. They would pack the flowers with moth balls but it still didn't seem to help.
The low down is you're not going to get rid of them until you stop shopping at the place where you're picking them up at.
And here is another little thingy that might be of help, although using the bay leaves is helpful as well-
http://www.gardensalive.com/item_display.asp?ProductNumber=8909
You can pick those up at garden centers and nurseries as well.
You will also want to freeze your spices like pepper flakes for a couple of days and then take them out of the freezer (if there is no room) but when you do, make sure you have them securely wrapped or sealed (several plastic ziplocks might hold them off a little while). Don't keep those in there for a long time as it isn't really good for the spices.
It's ok to keep your flour in the freezer though.
I will add that the moths probably won't go after your herbs, they go after the peppers because moths like fruit and technically chiles are a fruit.

Thanks Sue, I do have a pantry moth trap and it works because they are dead in there. I replace that every few months or so. How long do you think I need to keep the chilli flakes in the freezer? I also had a problem with rosemary in my earlier cleanout, but I suspect that may have been paranoia. Is there anything else I might have an issue with?? I haven't seen any for days, but then I opened the chilli. I don't really want to change my supermarket, because it's cheap and the majority of products are very good. Should I avoid anything other than flour, bread mix and dried chilli's there??

[:(]

Also, don't keep anything like dried orange pomanders, or potpourri with any type of dried fruit in it like dried apple bits or little dried pomegranates, etc. That could be a disaster.

[:(]

Freeze the chile flakes 3-4 days, should kill anything inside. You can eye-inspect to see if it looks ok to use.

[Kiss*My*Tiara]

Sue L wrote:
Also, don't keep anything like dried orange pomanders, or potpourri with any type of dried fruit in it like dried apple bits or little dried pomegranates, etc. That could be a disaster.

Why do they like fruity things? Thats' so weird. I didn't know that.

[:(]

Beware of anything with dried german statice, spiral eucalyptus and a few other flowers (do you have dried flower arrangements or wreaths in your home? inspect them carefully along the stems)

[Sassy Syrah]

Sue L wrote:
Also, don't keep anything like dried orange pomanders, or potpourri with any type of dried fruit in it like dried apple bits or little dried pomegranates, etc. That could be a disaster.

I have potpourri but there's no dried fruit in there.

[Sassy Syrah]

Sue L wrote:
Beware of anything with dried german statice, spiral eucalyptus and a few other flowers (do you have dried flower arrangements or wreaths in your home? inspect them carefully along the stems)

No, but I have a bunch of native flowers. They arrived after the problem started. I hope they are not making it worse. Come to think of it, there haven't been moths hanging around there. At least not while we're home.

[:(]

Kiss~My~Tiara wrote:

Sue L wrote:
Also, don't keep anything like dried orange pomanders, or potpourri with any type of dried fruit in it like dried apple bits or little dried pomegranates, etc. That could be a disaster.

Why do they like fruity things? Thats' so weird. I didn't know that.

I don't know. I used to dry those dried orange and dried apple wreaths that were so popular and make potpourri with dried fruit in it. I had a devil of a time with those nasty things because the moths were coming in on the euca and the statice and some other flowers I was buying from several wholesalers. I had to throw I don't know how much away. argh! nasty moths!

[Kiss*My*Tiara]

I've never had moths, but my husband's grandma had them really bad. Maybe an exterminator could zap them?

[:(]

Syrah wrote:

Sue L wrote:
Also, don't keep anything like dried orange pomanders, or potpourri with any type of dried fruit in it like dried apple bits or little dried pomegranates, etc. That could be a disaster.

I have potpourri but there's no dried fruit in there.

I wonder if you could put some masking tape over that (tape to edges of bowl, etc) and see if something sticks to it if it flies around? Just to see if they are going there.

[:(]

Kiss~My~Tiara wrote:
I've never had moths, but my husband's grandma had them really bad. Maybe an exterminator could zap them?

There are moth bombs you can get.
http://www.tfdepot.com/prod.itml/icOid/129