It would seem that what could be simpler than freezing food? But even here there are myths and misconceptions, as well as nuances and tricks, which we discuss in detail during the training. In this article I will answer the most common questions about freezing.
1. Frozen food is “dead” food – a myth
Freezing is the best a way to preserve life invented by nature itself. After all, everything freezes in winter: plants, tubers, seeds, roots, etc. – during the cold season they are frozen and defrosted several times. And at the same time, not only do they not “die”, but in the spring they begin to grow, bloom and bear fruit!
To preserve living plants, nature, unlike humans, does not cook, pickle, salt, smoke, etc. Nature is freezing! All minerals are preserved after freezing. And most vitamins too. It is better to freeze strawberries, raspberries or cherries than to make jam from them. This way they will retain more vitamins and be healthier.
2. Frozen food is not tasty - a myth
If you choose the right products and follow all the principles of freezing, packaging and storage, the taste of your food will never fade, much less spoil. And in some cases it will become even better (for example, when freezing semi-finished products).
To extend the shelf life of products to 10-12 months, you just need to properly prepare them for storage in the freezer. It is very important not to skip steps such as washing, blanching, drying, cooling and freezing in the freezer. Product packaging also plays an important role in preserving the full range of taste of your products and ready-made dishes. They need to be carefully and airtightly packaged using special freezer containers, cling film, durable plastic bags, foil or parchment paper.
And to prevent frozen foods from turning into a solid piece of ice, it is very important to completely dry them from moisture, cool them in the refrigerator, if you need to freeze them further, and only then completely freeze them. If whole berries, such as, are frozen, then they need to be frozen on a board or other flat tray so that they do not touch each other and only then poured into a bag or tray.
This also applies to other similar products.
3. You can freeze fully cooked food - true
Fully cooked food lends itself well to freezing and, if you follow all the rules for freezing/thawing, its taste after freezing will not only not disappoint you, but will also pleasantly surprise you.
Having frozen ready meals at home is very convenient. For example, if there is a lack of time for cooking, unexpected guests or another force majeure situation, there will always be homemade delicious dishes at home that will certainly save the situation.
And if you have prepared more food than your family can eat, then you shouldn’t wait until it sits in the refrigerator for a week and will be fed to a barn cat, or even worse, it will go in the trash. Freeze some of the prepared food, and in the future, when there is no energy, time or desire left to prepare lunch or dinner, frozen food will save a hungry family, and the family budget will not suffer from buying store-bought sausages, dumplings and other unhealthy food.
4. There are no vitamins in frozen foods – a myth
Vitamins are destroyed during any storage and during any processing of products, and most - not during freezing, but during heat treatment.
If we compare frozen vegetables and fruits with fresh ones collected in season, then naturally there will be more vitamins in fresh products.
But if in winter you want to enjoy strawberries or cherries, zucchini or bell peppers, then it is better to give preference to frozen vegetables rather than those just bought in the store. As a rule, fresh vegetables and fruits are frozen in season, that is, collected at the peak of their ripeness, when the amount of vitamins and other useful substances is high.
Therefore, the benefits from such frozen products will be greater than from glossy greenhouse vegetables and fruits grown under artificial lighting using stimulants and other substances that promote rapid ripening of products. Even canned foods are not as healthy as frozen ones.
5. You can freeze any food and ready-made meals - a myth
Yes, almost everything can be frozen. However, there are a number of foods that are not advisable to freeze. This applies to watery vegetables such as cucumber and radish (after defrosting, they lose their characteristic crunch and elasticity). Also, delicate greens such as lettuce cannot be frozen.
As for ready-made dishes, there are some nuances here too. Creamy sauces, dairy dishes (creams, desserts), cream, sour cream and kefir do not tolerate freezing well and separate after defrosting. This also applies to cold soups (okroshka, gazpacho) - such soups will be tasteless: the liquid part will become inhomogeneous, and their ingredients will no longer have a crunch.
6. Frozen food spoils when stored for a long time - true
Freezing allows you to preserve the high quality of food for a very long time.(for example, up to 12 months). Therefore, it is very important to adhere to a certain temperature regime in the freezer, namely minus 18 degrees and below. If the temperature is higher, the shelf life of the product will be greatly reduced, since freezing does not stop, but only slows down the processes that cause food to spoil under normal conditions, and temperatures above minus 18 degrees are not enough for long-term storage of food - the food will continue to deteriorate due to for the active reproduction of microorganisms that are present on products.
7. Food absorbs odors in the freezer - truth and myth
Yes, this really happens. If you store fish, milk, strawberries and mushrooms in one freezer drawer, then after some time of storage together you will have mushroom-flavored strawberries and fishy-flavored milk :)
But in reality this is very easy to avoid. You just need to pack the products well, sort them into groups and allocate a separate place for them.
In a refrigerator with a standard 3-compartment freezer, it is advisable to have a separate drawer for each food group. For example, in the first compartment (1) store meat products and their semi-finished products (dumplings, dumplings, cutlets, meatballs, cabbage rolls, etc.), broth, soup, sauces, etc.
In the second (2) compartment to store vegetables, fruits, dairy products (milk, butter), baked goods, etc.
Third (3) Set aside a compartment for frozen mushrooms, fish, seafood and other things.
8. You can defrost food in any way - a myth
The best way to defrost food is to defrost it slowly! That is, put it on the refrigerator shelf and let it thaw completely or partially.
Defrosting food under running hot or warm water is not right!
Warm water will quickly defrost the top layers of the product, while the inside will still be frozen. Such uneven defrosting has a very bad effect on the final quality and taste of the product. It will be heterogeneous and may even partially collapse.
You should also not leave frozen food on the table at room temperature.
When defrosting something (meat, fish, semi-finished products, etc.) in the air, there is a chance that the top layer of the product will become spoiled, since the process of bacteria and microbes will begin to multiply on it.
Cooking broth from frozen meat or stewing a frozen piece of meat/fish is also wrong.
It is highly undesirable to subject frozen meat to heat treatment, including cooking. This is due to the fact that after such a cooking process very few useful substances remain in the meat, it significantly decreases in size, becomes dry, and the broth becomes cloudy.
Defrosting some foods in the microwave is also undesirable.
This applies to fish and seafood. Such foods cook quite quickly and the cooking process can begin. The proteins of the outer layer of the product will coagulate, and with further heat treatment, the taste, color, density and even the composition of nutrients in the dish can change greatly.
To eat or not to eat frozen foods is the choice of each person
To freeze or not to freeze foods, to eat them or to abstain is everyone’s choice. But where is the confidence that the dishes purchased or ordered in stores, cafes and restaurants were not prepared from frozen foods? After all, almost everything can be frozen. This is the most common way to deliver products to the consumer without loss of taste characteristics and preserve them for a longer period.
Don't be afraid to freeze foods and prepared meals! Freezing is the best way to store food.
If you ALWAYS have HOMEMADE food ready in your freezer, then you won't need to cook as often. I’ll say more, you may not go near the stove for days or even weeks!
If now, during the season of inexpensive vegetables, fruits, and berries, you freeze them, you can save a lot, because in winter, fresh vegetables and fruits will cost as much as a Boeing wing.
Interesting? Sign up for the training ““. During the training, you will learn not only how to properly freeze food and ready-made meals. You can improve the quality of your life by freeing up time to do the things you truly enjoy.
And you’ll save money on grocery purchases – as a nice bonus!
Sign up for training
The freezer is one of the best inventions of the 20th century. Berries picked in the summer, boxes of herbs, and meat purchased for future use are stored in it at a temperature of −18 degrees Celsius. Even soups and broths are frozen by zealous housewives. But very often, irreparable mistakes are made during long-term storage of products. We tell you what not to do when storing frozen food.
Boxes
There is never enough freezer. And I really want to cram more berries into it for winter fruit drinks, another portion of cutlets and several large fish. But remember not to stuff the drawers so much that they can barely close. Food in the freezer should lie freely, and there should be free space in the drawers for air circulation. Otherwise how to cool?
Package
Regular plastic bags and cling film will not work. In the freezer they will crumble and break from the cold. We need dense polyethylene. These can be special bags, such as these are now sold, or simply dense bags, for example, soft milk packaging often gets a second life in the freezer.
Lots of air in the package
You can't just stick a piece of meat in a bag and put it in the freezer. First you need to pack it tightly so that as little air as possible remains in the package. Then the product will freeze faster and be stored better. Tightly sealed packaging ensures that your meat will not absorb the odors of the frozen fish lying nearby.
Large portions
It is best to pack food for freezing in small bags and containers. Then you will be able to get the amount of greens you need for a dish, for example, rather than defrosting a large package in order to take just a little.
Wrong Products
Not all foods can be stored in the freezer. Some only deteriorate due to frost:
Strawberries, watermelon, melon, papaya and all fruits with high water content. Firstly, in the cold they can crack (after all, the liquid expands). Secondly, after defrosting they will lose their taste, shape, and aroma.Cabbage, celery, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, parsnips, chicory, radishes, radishes. They also contain a lot of liquid and only lose their taste when frozen.
Potato. Raw root vegetables become limp, watery and sweet after defrosting.
Eggs. After freezing, they acquire an unpleasant taste, and bacteria penetrate inside through the cracked shell, which makes this product completely unsuitable for consumption.
Kefir, yogurt, cheese. The beneficial properties and pleasant taste of fermented milk products deteriorate, and due to low temperatures they can curdle.
Cream, sour cream, milk sauces, custard, mayonnaise. Once frozen, you can throw them away - they will separate and become watery and lumpy.
Ready-made pasta, spaghetti, rice. These side dishes lose texture and flavor when frozen. Cunning
Shelf life
And finally, the most important point. The fact is that no product can be stored in the freezer for many years. The maximum is 1 year. And in most cases even less.
It must be remembered that during storage, even in a frozen state, the quality of the product deteriorates. This is especially true for fatty foods - fatty fish, for example, loses a lot of taste if stored frozen for more than 2-3 months.
To avoid mistakes with shelf life, you can stick labels on each product with the date of freezing. It is best to also sign what is in the package so as not to unwrap the package again.
So, the maximum can be stored:
Bird- 9 months
Beef, pork, lamb, horse meat— 4-6 months
Fish: oily - 2-3 months, everything else - 6 months
Seafood— 3-4 months
Semi-finished products(dumplings, dumplings, cutlets, pancakes, cabbage rolls, minced meat, etc.) - 3-4 months
Ready meals, including broths and soups, sauces, cutlets - 2-3 monthsVegetables and fruits up to 1 year, except for tomatoes (2 months), peppers (3-4 months), zucchini and pumpkins (10 months), apples (4 months), apricots (6 months), peaches (4 months)
Mushrooms: boiled up to 1 year, raw - 8 months
Berries Usually stored for six months.
Greens and herbs— 6-8 months
Ice cream stored for 2 months
Margarine and butter- about 9 months
Bread and other baked goods— 2-3 months
In this article we will talk about how to prepare vegetables and fruits for the winter by freezing, how to rationally allocate storage space and other secrets of freezing.
What vegetables can be frozen for the winter: list
I want to enjoy the generous gifts of nature in the form of vegetables, fruits and berries not only in summer, but also in winter. In supermarkets in winter, of course, you can buy, if not all, then almost all types of fresh vegetables, berries or fruits, but their quality will not be the best.
You can also prepare pickles, compotes, jam and other types of preparations in jars for the winter. However, this option is not suitable for everyone. Some housewives do not like to tinker in the kitchen for a long time, others do not have time. Also, pickles may not work out; many people know that cans of preserves sometimes explode. In addition, many simply do not have space to store cans of preserves. And the very last argument is that it will not be possible to preserve all the vitamins in their original form.
Homemade vegetables Many housewives prefer freezing vegetables. Having a large freezer, you can prepare a lot of healthy and tasty vegetables. However, it would be a good idea to learn about the tricks of freezing, so as not to accidentally end up with an unappetizing mush instead of healthy vegetables.
So, list of vegetables that can be frozen:
- Black Eyed Peas
- Broccoli
- Pumpkin
- Cauliflower
- Zucchini or zucchini
- Brussels sprouts
- Sweet and/or bell pepper
- cucumbers
- Tomatoes
- Corn
- Green pea
- Eggplant
- Mushrooms
Turnips, radishes, and lettuce cannot be frozen.
Most vegetables need to be blanched before freezing, that is, immersed in boiling water for a short time and then cooled quickly. For example, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, green beans, green peas, corn needs to be blanched.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, mushrooms no need to put it in boiling water. Little ones Cherry tomatoes You can store them whole, just make a few punctures so that the fruit does not burst from frost. Large tomatoes can be cut into slices or pureed. Cucumbers should also not be stored whole; cut them into small cubes or strips.
How to properly freeze vegetables? You can also freeze potatoes, onions, carrots, and beets. But it’s worth thinking about, will this be rational? The freezer is usually small in size, and seasonal vegetables cost mere pennies and are stored for a long time without refrigeration. It's better to freeze what you can't buy in winter.
Vegetable mixtures for the winter in bags: recipes
Vegetables must be washed and dried before freezing. Sealed containers or bags are suitable as containers. The seal will prevent the absorption of foreign odors from nearby products. For example, dill gives off a strong odor that can be absorbed into other vegetables or berries.
It is convenient to freeze vegetable mixtures so that you can prepare different dishes later. It is better to freeze mixtures in small portions, so as not to break off a piece from the frozen mass later, but to take the finished portion at a time.
Vegetable mixture options:
- Corn, peas, bell pepper.
- Carrots, peas, green beans, red beans, corn, celery, peppers, corn.
- Onions, mushrooms, carrots, potatoes.
- Tomatoes, onions, peppers.
Important: Frozen vegetables and fruits can be stored in the freezer for no longer than a year.
Delicious mixture of vegetables Vegetable seasonings for soups, salad, pasta, main courses: recipes for the winter
You can also freeze greens, which you can then add little by little to soups, salads or main courses.
- Wash and dry the greens thoroughly beforehand.
- Then finely chop it.
- First, freeze the greens in bulk, that is, spread them in a thin layer on the surface and freeze.
- Once the greens are frozen, place them in a tightly sealed bag.
Greens can be frozen in a combination of several types. For example:
- Dill+parsley for soups
- Dill+sorrel+onion feathers for green borscht
- Cilantro+parsley+basil for salads
Important: Greens should be stored separately. Do not mix greens with other vegetables, otherwise the flavors will mix.
Sorrel for the winter: how to freeze For soups The following vegetable mixture will work:
- Green peas, carrots, onions, potatoes
- Carrots, onions, potatoes, cauliflower
- Cauliflower, corn, potatoes, carrots, onions
- Sweet peppers, carrots, potatoes, onions
The same mixtures can be added to other dishes, such as risotto, stew, vegetable casseroles.
Video: How to freeze greens for the winter?
Freezing Vegetable Mix for Stew: Recipe
You can enjoy this healthy stew by freezing it:
- Zucchini, zucchini
- Bell pepper
- Green pea
- Cauliflower
- Tomatoes
- Greenery
Also, potatoes, onions, carrots, and white cabbage must be added to the stew.
A stew is a mixture of different vegetables, so you don't have to stick to a strict recipe. If you don't have one ingredient, you can easily replace it with another. The main thing is that the dish contains several types of vegetables.
Important: Many people are interested in the question: Do you need to defrost vegetables before cooking? No, you can't do this.
If you defrost vegetables, they will lose their shape when cooked and turn into mush. Therefore, place vegetables from the freezer into the pan immediately. This way they will remain fragrant, beautiful and healthy.
Freezing vegetable mixtures Recipes for borscht dressings for freezing for the winter
Borscht in winter will be much tastier and healthier if you take care of the dressing in advance.
Recipe for borscht dressing:
- Sweet pepper in thin strips
- Onion diced
- Carrots, julienned or grated
- Beets in strips
- Tomato puree
It would be useful parsley And dill as spices, you just need to store the greens separately.
Wash all ingredients, dry, cut, grate and mix. Pack the dressing into separate bags for one use.
This method will help not only prepare aromatic borscht in winter, but also save the family budget.
Dressing for borscht for the winter How to freeze stuffed peppers with vegetables?
Stuffed pepper- a tasty and healthy dish, but you can fully enjoy it only during the season, that is, in the fall. But if you freeze peppers, you can prepare your favorite dish at any time of the year.
Some housewives stuff the peppers and then put them in the freezer. This method is good, but it takes up a lot of space in the freezer.
There is another way:
- Wash the peppers and dry with a paper towel
- Remove the stem and seeds from the fruit
- Insert the fruits one into the other
- Place the peppers in columns, carefully wrapping them in bags.
Pepper slices are suitable for salads, stews, soups and other dishes. It is much more convenient to store it in this form than whole.
Pepper for the winter What vegetable mixtures can be frozen in the freezer to feed a baby for the winter?
If there is an infant in the family, or a new addition is expected, the young mother should consider preparing homemade vegetables for complementary feeding.
Complementary feeding should be introduced at 5-6 months of the baby’s life if the child is breastfed. If the child eats an adapted formula, then complementary foods should be introduced earlier - at the 4th month of life.
If this period falls in winter or spring, then frozen vegetables will become a lifesaver during the introduction of complementary foods.
To feed your baby you can freeze the following vegetables:
- Cauliflower
- Zucchini
- Broccoli
- Pumpkin
After the baby begins to eat pureed vegetables, light vegetable soups can be introduced in small quantities. To do this, freeze in advance:
- Potato
- Carrot
Vitamins and naturalness - this is the most important advantage of freezing vegetables for complementary feeding. Provided that you are sure that the vegetables have not been treated with chemicals, or that you grew them in your own garden.
Vegetable puree for complementary feeding What fruits and berries can be frozen in the refrigerator freezer and freezer: list
You can freeze any fruits and berries:
- Strawberry
- Strawberries
- Blueberry
- Blackberry
- Cowberry
- Plums
- Apricots
- Peaches
- Apples
- Currant
- Gooseberry
Frozen berries Do I need to wash fruit before freezing?
In addition to vegetables, you can freeze fruits and berries. Before putting them in the freezer, thoroughly wash and dry the fruits and berries.
Fruits and berries cannot be re-frozen. Firstly, they will turn into mush, and secondly, they will lose all their beneficial properties.
How to freeze fresh fruits and berries for the winter?
You can puree the berries and freeze them as is, with or without sugar - your choice.
Another way to freeze is dry. Place the prepared berries or fruits in a thin layer on a surface, for example, on a board. Freeze this way, then place the berries in a bag, releasing the air from it.
It is advisable to store delicate berries such as strawberries and raspberries in a container so that the berries are not damaged.
Apples can be cut into slices. Store small and fleshy fruits (plums, apricots, cherries) whole and with the pit.
Recipes for mixtures of fruits and berries for the winter
From frozen fruits and berries in winter you can prepare aromatic compotes, fruit drinks, or add fruit to yogurt or porridge.
Remember that ripe and undamaged fruits should be frozen. Make small portions of berries and use one bag per preparation.
Mixtures of fruits and berries:
- Strawberry, blackberry, raspberry
- Plums, apricots, apples
- Apples, apricots, raspberries
- Cherry, apple, strawberry
- Cherries, currants, raspberries
- Strawberries, currants, cranberries
Important: Most modern refrigerators do not require defrosting, but if you need to do this, wrap the container with frozen vegetables and fruits in a thick blanket so that the products do not have time to defrost. In winter, the freezer can be taken outside or onto the balcony.
How to freeze fruit Freezing fruits, berries and vegetables is a profitable and quick way to get all the healthy vitamins in winter and enjoy the taste of summer. But do not forget to follow the rules of freezing in order to preserve vitamins and taste. You can watch a video on this topic and learn a lot of useful information about freezing vegetables and fruits.
Video: How to properly freeze greens, vegetables and fruits?
Modern people use frozen foods - with varying degrees of frequency, but quite regularly, this is a fact that you cannot argue with. Ready-made puff pastry, Pacific fish, blueberries in the winter, convenient bags of broccoli and even regular ice cream - we all eat processed and frozen foods, and this can be quite difficult to combat, even if you are an ardent opponent of deep-prepared food.
However, you must admit, this is convenient - at almost any time of the year you can afford what you could not even dream of before: soup with green peas, strawberry pie, pasta with mussels are always available thanks to supermarkets. A what can you freeze for the winter?, if there is still room in the freezer, at home?
Homemade frozen semi-prepared meals- this is, first of all, convenient: there is nothing simpler than pureed soup from vegetables that can be found in the freezer. Secondly, of course, it is useful: when frozen, most products retain the vitamins that they can boast of. Third, be economical: compare prices for, for example, sweet peppers now and at the end of winter, and you won’t need any other arguments.
What can you freeze for the winter?
10 simple and affordable ideas.
1. Soup set
Yeah, strange as it may sound, it’s the soup set that can serve as the basis for a rich vegetable broth that now costs several times less. Celery root and coarse parsley sprigs (now they are already coarse, thick and tasteless, but still very aromatic and healthy), cauliflower bases after you have prepared a stew from it, substandard bell pepper (here is the one with the ugly side cut off and slightly dried out, withered top), a couple of thin carrots that are difficult to grate (have you also had a poor carrot harvest this year?), parsnips, pumpkin, tomato - peel everything, cut into two or three parts if necessary (vegetables should be large), mix and pack into freezer bags. In winter, by taking out a portion of this preparation, you can easily cook an incredibly aromatic and healthy vegetable broth - a cheap and excellent base for any soup.
2. Eggplant
Now is the season for blue ones. If you have already tried to freeze eggplants and were disappointed, do not rush to move on to the next paragraph - there is an option in which these vegetables will not taste bitter, will turn out tasty and very, very interesting. To freeze eggplants, you must first... bake them. In the oven or over a fire, cook them until soft, then cool, peel the skin, cut into pieces (or rather tear them) and freeze. In winter, you have the base ready for a wonderful (all you have to do is defrost it and puree it in a blender along with a couple of cloves of garlic, a spoonful of olive oil and a handful of herbs), a component of vegetable stew, cream soup, tart.
3. Greens
Of course, greens! Lots of parsley, cilantro, dill, basil, tarragon and everything, everything, that you can add to soup, pasta, stewed potatoes, pie filling, stew. To properly freeze greens, wash them and dry them well, then chop them and place them in plastic containers. Cover with a lid, put in the freezer, and use as needed. Simple, cheap and flavorful.
4. Tomatoes
Few people know that tomatoes can be frozen. And yet - it is possible and necessary! Now, at the peak of the season, they are cheap, they are tasty and as aromatic as possible, which means we go to the market, buy tomatoes, return home, wash them, cut the skin, scald with boiling water, peel, and then puree with a blender. Pour into bags (containers or disposable cups) and freeze. In winter, you will thank yourself when you can cook amazingly delicious borscht, season stewed cabbage with fresh tomato puree, prepare an unreal pasta sauce and stew fish in a cheap tomato marinade.
5. Beans
Now it is not only cheap, but also young, soft, juicy. Once you dry it, the cooking time will increase significantly. If you freeze, you will always have a portion of young legumes on hand for soup or. Cheap and convenient.
6. Watermelon
Now that the markets are flooded with this miracle berry, buy a couple of watermelons, peel and seeds, cut into large pieces and freeze. In winter, you can get a taste of summer by simply placing the mixture in the bowl of a food processor and turning it into wonderful watermelon ice cream or adding a couple of cubes to any smoothie.
7. Carrots
Do you also have nowhere to store your carrot harvest, do you have no cellar and a box of sand? Peel it, grate it and place it in containers. From now on, preparing soup will become an even faster process, because you won’t have to waste time manipulating carrots! Among other things, autumn carrots are much cheaper than winter and even more so spring carrots.
Anna Krachek | 09.10.2015 | 2909Anna Krachek 09/10/2015 2909
Home freezing is a great way to preserve the beneficial properties and freshness of food for a long time.
For many housewives, autumn is the season of preparation. The kitchen constantly smells of spices and marinades, and jam is constantly bubbling on the stove.
Benefits of home freezing for the winter
Freezing is one of the simplest and most convenient ways to preserve food for the winter. And there are a number of reasons for this:
- all the beneficial properties of vegetables, fruits and berries are preserved;
- the method is very economical and does not require additional costs (no need to buy sugar, spices, jars, lids, etc.);
- you don’t have to spend a lot of time and effort creating preparations: you just need to put the food in a plastic bag or plastic container and put it in the freezer.
This method of preparing for the winter has one drawback: it is necessary to constantly maintain a low storage temperature, because previously thawed foods should not be re-frozen. Firstly, it will reduce their nutritional value. Secondly, it will not have the best effect on taste.
General rules for freezing food for the winter
In order for frozen vegetables and fruits to retain their taste and beneficial properties throughout the winter, it is necessary to follow the correct home freezing technology.
First of all, you will need a refrigerator or freezer that can support temperature from -12 to -18 degrees. In it you can store frozen vegetables, fruits, berries, mushrooms, herbs, vegetable and fruit purees, juices and other products for a long time.
You also need to buy special bags for freezing(it’s better if they have a zipper). You can store any solid food in them. Best suited for juices, purees and pastes plastic containers with a lid.
Before freezing, the fruits must be prepared. They need to be cleaned of inedible parts: stalks, seeds, and in some cases, peel. Fruits with large pits must be removed before freezing.
Then the products should be washed under running water and dried on a paper towel.
You can use a hairdryer on cool air to dry food.
Mushrooms must first be boiled, cooled and only then placed in the freezer. Vegetables can also be boiled: this will soften them and allow them to be packed more tightly.
Freezing vegetables for the winter
Good news: you can freeze any vegetables except potatoes. All of them perfectly retain their taste, good appearance and beneficial properties.
The most popular types of vegetables for home freezing:
- green peas, corn kernels, green beans: they are blanched, cooled and dried on a paper towel, then laid out in plastic bags, air removed and closed;
- bell pepper: Large and beautiful peppers are frozen whole and used for salads, medium ones are used for stuffing (pre-frozen peppers are placed one inside the other, wrapped in cling film and placed in a bag), and small vegetables are cut into strips, frozen in a thin layer on a sheet of paper, then laid out containers or bags;
- carrot: Grate the root vegetable on a coarse grater and immediately place it in portioned bags, release the air, close tightly and place in the freezer;
- eggplant: this vegetable can be frozen both raw and baked, cut into cubes or circles and placed in bags;
- zucchini: cut it into circles or cubes, freeze it in a thin layer on paper and place it in bags;
- cauliflower and broccoli: Boil the cauliflower, divide into inflorescences, cool and dry, and then put into bags and freeze; there is no need to boil the broccoli;
- tomatoes: small vegetables are frozen whole, having first pierced the skin so that they do not burst; large tomatoes are cut into circles or cubes, frozen on paper, and then placed in containers.
Vegetables can also be used to make frozen mixtures. In this case, it is better to freeze each of the components separately, and then combine them all and distribute the mixture into portioned bags.
Freezing greens for the winter
If you want the fresh taste and incredible aroma of your greens, it's best to freeze them. This storage method is suitable for all types of edible plants.
- dill, celery, parsley, cilantro: wash the greens, dry them, finely chop them and place them in small portioned containers or cardboard boxes (for example, tea boxes);
- basil, sorrel, rosemary, mint, lettuce, arugula: wash and dry the greens, tear the leaves from the stems and place them in plastic bags, carefully release the air, close the bag and place it in the freezer.
If you plan to add greens to hot dishes, you do not need to defrost them first.
Freezing mushrooms for the winter
Any type of edible mushroom can be frozen, but large ones are better cut, and small ones can be harvested whole.
Do not forget that the mushrooms must first be boiled, changing the water several times.
Freezing berries for the winter
It is better to freeze any berries, scattering them in a thin layer on a piece of paper or a tray wrapped in cling film. And only after that put it into portioned bags or containers.
- strawberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, blackberries: These berries are very tender and absorb moisture well, so after defrosting they become watery and lose their attractive appearance, so it is better to grind them in a blender with sugar and freeze them as a puree.
- currants, lingonberries, viburnum, gooseberries, cherries, sea buckthorn: They tolerate freezing well and after thawing do not lose their presentable appearance and taste, so they can be frozen whole.
You need to add a little sugar to the berry puree: 1 cup per kilogram of berries will be enough.
Freezing fruit for the winter
Fruits are frozen much less often than vegetables or berries, and in vain! They store well at sub-zero temperatures.
- plums, apricots, cherry plums: After removing the pit, freeze the fruit halves;
- apples, pears, quince: Peel off the “tails” and cores, cut into slices or cubes, dry and place in a thin layer on a tray wrapped in cling film; when the fruits are frozen, place them in bags.
After defrosting, fruits can be eaten raw, added to pies and other dishes, or made into compotes.
General rules for defrosting food
Food must be defrosted correctly. When you are going to use a fruit or vegetable fresh, defrost it slowly (in the refrigerator). And if the product will be used as an ingredient for a hot dish, there is no need to defrost it: you can put it directly from the freezer into hot water, broth or into a frying pan.
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