Curry leaf, is one magical herb with distinctive flavour which brings out the great aroma of most Soutn India curries. They are available in abundance in India but a treasured groumet produce for people living in other countries. Preserving and storing them is a big question among many most of us. After trying a few attempts in my kitchen, came to a conclusion that freezing would be best solution to preserve this green gold.

Curry leaves can be preserved in the following ways.

1. Fresh curry leaves with stalks, stored in ziplock bags can be refridgerated for few days. Max: 5 days, later they turn dark black and stinks.

2. Fresh curry leaves with stalks removed, wiped clean can be stored in air-tight freezer friendly box for upto 2 months or little longer. There's one little disadvantage.. do not put them out for long time as discolouration starts within few minutes of keeping them in room temperature. Better to use straight from freezer to pan, makes them taste the same as fresh curry leaves. You can actually see the difference from above picture, within few minutes they started to turn black. This method is very helpful and is cost effective, time effective (saves frequent trips to Indian stores) and taste effective (Quite not the exact match for fresh leaves but atleast shares that mild flavouring)

3. Fresh curry leaves with stalks revomoved, wiped clean, lightly dry toasted and dried for few days will result in dry curry leaves. Very mild in flavour and stays good for 6 months if stored in air-tight box. Another way to store is to make a powder of those toasted leaves.