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Before Freezing Vegetables
In this page, you’ll find important information for successfully preparing produce, fruit, berries, and root vegetables for freezing at the peak of harvest flavor, including:
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- Why freezing is the top method of choice for preserving fresh vegetables for later use.
- The importance of chilling vegetables when you pick them to maintain their flavor and sweetness before use or preparation for storage by freezing.
- Why preparation and processing prior to freezing is required for some vegetables.
- Which vegetables should be processed prior to freezing.
- Understanding blanching’s role in preserving flavor and color.
- How packing methods that eliminating air from packaged vegetables gives longer storage.
- The vacuum-sealing, pre-freezing, and flash freezing methods of frozen food preservation.
- Long-term temperature requirements for frozen vegetable storage.
Freezing Home-Grown Vegetables
Freezing is the most popular technique used to preserve most vegetables. It retains the most nutrients and holds garden-fresh flavor for up to 6 months of storage.
The secrets to freezing are proper preparation of vegetables by processing them quickly after harvest, blanching, and quick-freezing.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Properly prepared home-grown vegetables quickly frozen after harvest last for many months in a typical household refrigerator’s freezer compartment or in a home deep-freezer.
Nearly every authoritative body recommends storing frozen vegetables at 0°F (–18°C), while frozen meat is ideally stored at or near freezing, 33–36°F (1–2°C). For best results, vegetables should be used within six months of freezing, while meats are best when frozen for up to 3–4 months.
After those lengths of time, flavor and textural changes may become noticeable, but bacterial growth is negligible unless the frozen food’s temperature fluctuates.
Warmer temperatures than those recommended permit some bacterial growth, color and flavor changes, and loss of nutritional benefits.
Ice-crystal formation is another change at higher temperatures, rupturing cells in stored plants and meat over time, causing unacceptable texture changes.
Follow each of the following steps to always achieve the best results, taste, and quality in your frozen vegetables:
Pre-Freezing Preparation
Chill fleshy vegetables after harvest to stop their sugars from turning to starch.
Shuck legumes and reduce the size of other vegetables for blanching by peeling and cutting. Making them smaller helps them freeze quickly.
For processed vegetables, cook, mash or puree, then cool and strain, and package for freezing.
For vegetables frozen whole or in slices, blanch them in boiling water for 1–2 minutes, then immerse them immediately in an ice-water bath to stop the cooking process. When they are cold, drain and pack for freezing.
Pack vegetables tightly in containers or in resealable or special vacuum bags. Remove all excess moisture and air, then seal or use a vacuum sealer to exhaust all air and seal.
Quick-freeze in a deep freezer set to its lowest temperature, allowing air to circulate between the vegetable packages. Quick-freezing avoids formation of ice crystals that rupture plant cell walls and affect texture.
After the food is flash frozen, return the freezer’s temperature setting to 0°F (–18°C), usually after 3–4 hours.