Basics of Freezing Vegetables from the Garden
Learn How to Preserve Your Harvest by Freezing
Freezing vegetables is a viable way of keeping your harvest for a longer period of time. When vegetables are frozen they generally keep their color and crispness, except in a few cases, whereas in canning the crispness might not be retained as well. Some vegetables are easy to freeze as you just place them in a freezer safe container like a plastic tub or plastic freezer bag and that is it. Other vegetables have to be processed in order to retain the freshness when freezing.
Some vegetables are just not suitable for freezing at all. These vegetables would include: Lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, endive, parsley and radishes. They get limp and watery and their color and flavor changes. Irish potatoes are another vegetable that does not do well when frozen. They get too mushy or mealy and water logged. Onions can be frozen once chopped but their color will change and they won’t be as crisp, but they can be put in a soup, stew or casserole easily. Celery will get a little limp and the flavor becomes stronger, yet you can still use it in cooking without much trouble. Don’t try frozen celery in a potato salad because it just won’t quite taste the same as fresh.
CONTAINERS
Containers for freezing must be moisture resistant, leak proof, not be come brittle and crack, sealable, and markable. Some plastic containers are made for freezing and some of the cheaper brands are not. Make sure the label says they can be put in the freezer. Freezer bags are probably the most practical thing to use. They are not as bulky and they lie flat in the freezer. Make sure you are using “freezer” bags and not just “storage bags”. Using storage bags will not be satisfactory and the food inside will get freezer burned and be useless. Do Not use glass jars to freeze because they will crack.
Be sure to label your frozen vegetables as to what it is and the date it was placed into the freezer. Most freezer bags have an area you can write on the outside of the bag with an indelible marker. You can write on freezer tape and place the tape on plastic containers.
Vegetables that have been stored in the freezer at 0 degrees F or below can be stored for about 1 year but are best used during those first 6 to 7 months.
BLANCHING
Some vegetables need to be blanched in order to freeze them. In this process the vegetables are scalded in boiling water for a short time; this stops enzymes in the vegetable from loosing flavor, color, texture, and nutrients. Once in the boiling water the vegetable is plunged into ice water.
FILLING CONTAINERS
When using plastic containers be aware that the substance in them will expand once it is frozen. Make sure you leave at least ½ to 1 inch headspace between the food in the container and the lid or the expansion will pop that lid right off and all your work will go to waste. This doesn’t seem to be as much a problem with freezer bags, but don’t fill them totally full as if they could pop or the seal may break once the substance is frozen.
Make sure to freeze your vegetables as soon as they are sealed. If they seem a little hot, which they shouldn’t, wait until they cool to place in freezer. It is important to not overload your freezer with a huge harvest at once. If you have a lot of vegetables to process set the temperature about -10 degrees F the night before then raise it back to 0 once everything has frozen. Two to Three pounds per cubic foot will freeze in 24 hours so if you have a 20.1 cubic foot freezer your can freeze around 60 pounds of food at once. Leave a little space between packages so the air can circulate around them, then once frozen you can move them closer together.
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