If you are anything like me, you had a crap load of basil left over towards the end of the summer. Basil grows like crazy, which is awesome, but it also means that you have so much that you don’t know what to do with it. I have figured out a solution that let me enjoy the fresh summer taste of my garden basil all year long. It especially was appreciated during these frigid winter days!

It only takes basil, olive oil and a container to freeze- luckily for me I had a surplus of baby food storage containers like this one here.

Chop the basil finely.

Place basil in each of the vesicles. I used a tbsp as this is the most common amount of basil for a recipe.

Add olive oil to basil- just enough to cover basil.

Cover and place in freezer for at least 2 hours. (yes that is my homemade free veggie stock, see how to never buy stock again here!)

This is what the basil and olive oil drops should look like when frozen.  Take out of the freezer.

They will pop out of the mold quite easily.  From here you can either use in a salad or place into a ziplock bag for longer freezing.

These basil buttons lasted me 6 months in the freezer without losing any flavor. I have used these in a lot of cooking and since the basil was already chopped, it saved me time in prepping.

My favorite way to use this basil is mixed in with cut grape tomatoes. Occasionally I will add some fresh mozzarella and really pretend it’s summer.