Storing the Surplus - Freezing Vegetables and Blanching
Chart
The ideal is to eat fresh from the plot but the fact is you’ll always
have a surplus and it is nice to eat your favourites out of season. Some
things are unsuitable for freezing such as chicory, cucumber, endive, kale,
lettuce, radishes, Jerusalem artichokes. Other vegetables, such as potatoes
and other roots are best stored in other ways, but you can freeze if you wish.
Freezing is one of the easiest ways to store the surplus and retains taste
and vitamins.
First, the freezer.
You really want the most efficient freezer you can get. Keep the electricity
costs to a minimum. Chest freezers tend to be more efficient than uprights
but it is easy to forget things at the bottom of the pile. Freezers run best
when full, so we store bread in them when they start to empty. 90% of fridges
sent to the dump are actually in good working if not cosmetic order – the
same is probably true of freezers. Do consider second hand. We have 3 freezers.
A fridge / freezer combination in the kitchen, an upright in the garage and
a chest freezer in a bedroom. The upright was free, unwanted by an acquaintance,
the chest freezer is a small A rated Whirlpool for £30.00 from the local
paper.
We also use a ‘sava plug’ available at Nigel's
Eco Store to reduce the running costs of our freezer.
Do check it is compatible with your freezer before buying. There is even
a free 'phone number so you can check on the site
So, how to freeze.
Successful freezing depends on how quickly you can reduce the temperature
of the food. Slow freezing may not make the food inedible but will affect
flavour and, more importantly, nutritional value. Fast freezing halts bacterial
growth instantly and produces very small ice crystals, which causes less damage
to the cell structure of the food.
Before you commence preparing food for freezing you should turn your freezer
on to its super or fast setting – preferably 3 hours or so before. This
just keeps the motor running and drops the temperature as low as possible.
When the food goes into the freezer it will cause the temperature to rise
as the food cools. The super setting ensures the food already there remains
at optimum temperature and the food being frozen cools as quickly as possible.
Do not try to freeze too much in one go – never more than 10% of the
freezer capacity at a time.Also, the colder the food when it goes into the
freezer, the less work the freezer has to do. We pre-cool in the fridge down
to about 5 degrees before freezing.
Now we come to the mystic art of preparing the food to be frozen - blanching.
To get your food to store well you need to blanch it. This is essential with
most vegetables.
Blanching destroys certain enzymes and bacteria whilst helping to preserve
the colour, texture and flavour of the food. It also helps retain vitamin
C.
The method is really quite simple. You need to put the food into boiling
water and raise its temperature as fast as possible. We used to use a large
jam pan but we now use a large pan with a lid. Even just sitting on the blanching
basket it reduces the time the water needs to get back up in temperature and
the energy needed to maintain it. You need at least 6 pints of water per 1lb
of produce.
You also need a blanching basket. This is just a sieve to hold the produce
together.
The timing is pretty important so use a pinger or suchlike to
keep it accurate.
So, plunge into the water which needs to be back up to a rolling boil in
1 minute or less. If you can’t do that – blanch smaller portions.
See my note above about using a pan with a lid on it. Then hold at the boil
for the time on the chart below. After this you need to get the temperature
down as fast as possible and stop the cooking process. We plunge into a bowl
of cold water for 5 seconds or so to kill the heat then transfer to a second
large bowl of water with ice cubes in it, changing the water in the first
bowl each time to keep it as cold as possible.
If the blanching water starts looking mucky you should change it. When this
is depends on the vegetable.
The Blanching Chart is available as a printable pdf file here
When the food is cold, remove from the water and drain or dry off – warning,
broad beans will turn your tea towel brown! – then pack into portion
sized freezer bags. Because the freezer looses a lot of heat when you open
the door, we put about 5lb in at a time. As I said above, we pre-chill in
the fridge down to 5 degreess to reduce the workload on the freezer and freeze
the food faster.
If you have visitors, you can always take out 2 portion bags at a time. We
re-use bags used for vegetables.
Blanching Table
| Vegetable |
Preparation |
Blanching Time |
| Artichokes, Globe |
Remove all outer coarse leaves and stalks, and trim
tops and stems. Wash well in cold water, add a little lemon juice to
the blanching water. Cool, and drain upside down on absorbent paper.
Pack in rigid boxes |
Blanch a few at a time, in a large container for 7-10
min. |
| Asparagus |
Grade into thick and thin stems but don't tie into bunches
yet. Wash in cold water, blanch, cool and drain. Tie into small bundles,
packed tips to stalks, separated by non stick paper |
Thin stems 2 min.
Thick stems 4 min. |
| Aubergines |
Peel and cut roughly into 1 in (2.5 cm) slices. Blanch,
chill and dry on absorbent paper. Pack in layers, separated by non
stick paper |
4 min. |
| Beans, Runner & French |
Select young, tender beans; wash thoroughly trim ends
and blanch
Runner slice thickly and blanch |
2 - 3 min. |
| Beans, Broad |
Shell & Blanch |
3 min. |
| Beetroot |
Choose small beets. Wash well and rub skin off after
scalding. Beetroot under 1 in (2.5 cm) in diameter may be frozen whole;
large ones should be sliced or diced. Pack in cartons.
Note: Short blanching and long storage can make beetroot rubbery |
Small whole 5 - 10 min.
Large cook until tender 45 - 50 min. |
| Broccoli |
Trim off any woody parts and large leaves. Wash in salted
water, and cut into small sprigs. Blanch, cool and drain well. Pack
in boxes in 1 - 2 layers, tips to stalks |
Thin stems 3 min.
Medium stems 4 min.
Thick stems 5 min. |
| Brussels sprouts |
Use small compact heads. Remove outer leaves and wash
thoroughly. Blanch, cool and drain well before packing |
Small 3 min.
Medium 4 min. |
Cabbage
Green & Red |
Use only young, crisp cabbage. Wash thoroughly, shred
finely. Blanch, cool and drain. Pack in small quantities in polythene
bags |
1½ min. |
| Carrots |
Scrape, then slice or cut into small dice. Blanch, cool,
drain and pack |
3 - 5 min. |
| Cauliflower |
Heads should be firm, compact and white. Wash, break
into small sprigs, about 2 in (5 cm) in diameter. Add the juice of
a lemon to the blanching water to keep them white; blanch, cool, drain
and pack |
3 min. |
| Celeriac |
Wash and trim. Cook until almost tender, peel and slice |
N/A |
| Celery |
Trim, removing any strings, and scrub well. Cut into
1 in (2.5 cm) lengths. Suitable only for cooked dishes |
3 min. |
| Courgettes |
Choose young ones. Wash and cut into ½ to 1in
(1 cm) slices. Either blanch, or saute in a little butter |
1 min. |
| Fennel |
Trim and cut into short lengths. Blanch, cool, drain
and pack |
3 min. |
| Kohlrabi |
Use small roots, 2 3 in (5 7 cm) in diameter. Cut off
tops, peel and dice. Blanch, cool, drain and pack |
1½ min. |
| Fennel |
Trim and cut into short lengths. Blanch, cool, drain
and pack |
3 min. |
| Marrow |
Young marrows can be peeled, cut into ½-1 in
(1 - 2.5 cm) slices and blanched before packing. Leave ½ in
(1 cm) headspace |
3 min. |
| Leeks |
Cut off tops and roots; remove coarse outside leaves.
Slice into ½in (1 cm) slices and wash well. Sauté in
butter or oil, drain, cool, pack and freeze. Only suitable for casseroles
or as a base to vichysoisse |
Sauté 4 min. |
| Mushrooms |
Choose small button mushrooms and leave whole, wipe
clean but don't peel. Sauté in butter. Mushrooms larger than
1 in (2.5 cm) in diameter are suitable only for slicing and using in
cooked dishes |
Sauté 1 min. |
| Onions |
Can be peeled, finely chopped and packed in small plastic
containers for cooking later; packages should be over wrapped, to prevent
the smell filtering out.
Note: Small onions may be blanched whole and used later in casseroles |
2 min.
Small whole 4 min. |
| Parsnips |
Trim and peel young parsnips and cut into narrow strips.
Blanch, cool and dry. |
2 min. |
| Peas |
Use young, sweet green peas, not old or starchy.
Shell and blanch, then shake the blanching basket from time to time to
distribute the heat evenly. Cool, drain and pack in polythene bags or
rigid containers |
1 - 2 min. |
Peas,
Mange-tout |
Trim the ends. Blanch, cool, drain and pack |
2-3 min. |
| Peppers |
Wash well, remove stems and all traces of seeds and
membranes.
Can be blanched as halves for stuffed peppers, or in thin slices for stews
and casseroles. |
3 min. |
| Potatoes |
Best frozen in the cooked form, as partially cooked
chips (fully cooked ones are not satisfactory), croquettes or duchesse
potatoes.
New: choose small even sized potatoes. Scrape, cook fully with mint and
cool. (Appearance similar to that of canned potatoes.)
Chipped: Part fry in deep fat for 2 min., cool and freeze for final frying |
|
| Sweet Corn |
Select young yellow kernels, not starchy, over ripe
or shrunken. Remove husks and 'silks'. Blanch, cool and dry. Pack individually
in freezer paper or foil.
You can also remove the kernels after blanching and store in bags.
Note: There may be loss of flavour and tenderness after freezing. Thaw
before cooking |
Small 4 min.
Medium 6 min.
Large 8 min. |
| Spinach |
Select young leaves. Wash very thoroughly under running
water; drain. Blanch in small quantities, cool quickly and press out
excess moisture. Pack in rigid containers or polythene bags, leaving ½in
(1 cm) headspace |
2 min. |
Tomatoes
Whole |
Placed whole in bags the skins are easily removed on
defrosting for use in cooking. |
|
Tomatoes
Purée |
Skin and core tomatoes, simmer in their own juice for
5 min. until soft. Pass them through a nylon sieve or liquidise, cool
and pack in small containers. |
|
Tomato
Juice |
Trim, quarter and simmer for 5 to 10 min. Press through
a nylon sieve and season with salt 1 level tsp (5 ml) salt to every
2 pints (1 litre). Cool, and pack in small containers |
|
| Turnips |
Use small, young turnips. Trim and peel. Cut into small
dice. Blanch, cool, drain and pack in rigid containers.
Note: Turnips may be fully cooked and mashed before freezing leave ½in
(1 cm) headspace |
2½ min. |
|
