why has my frozen veg soup gone watery?

bargain-chic

i made a batch of vegetable soup last month and froze it in pots,
i got a pot out last night to defrost and this morning, there seems to be a lot of clear water running from it! why is this, do i discard all the water from the pulp, or leave it in the soup?
hope some-one can help - please!!

Mags_cat

If you made it reasonably thick to start with it's probably just split/settled whilst in the freezer.

Depending on how much water there is (and if it's out of all proprtion to the rest of the soup I might drain a little bit off) I'd just reheat it normally. If you stir it all back in it should be fine.

FireAngel_2

My homemade soup quite often looks like that when it defrosts but I don't ever throw the liquid out. I find that once I reheat it and mix it all together again then it goes back to how it should look and tastes fine.

I think it's maybe because the liquid freezes quicker than the veg so it separates a bit as it defrosts but once it's hot it mixes together again without any problem.

bargain-chic

thank you mags_cat & fireangel i will just heat it up and see what it's like!

Fruball

I find this with my lentil soup - I mix a tsp of cornflour with a little water and stir that in. (If portion is for more than 3, add extra cornflour)

Bring to the boil stirring constantly and it will be exactly as you made it

If you don't have cornflour - mix a little normal flour with butter to make a paste, stir that in and bring to boil. Works the same A lot of chefs keep flour/butter mixture in the fridge for thickening sauces

geri1965_2

Most of my soups separate a bit when they are defrosted, I usually just stick them in the blender again for a short while.

SailorSam

I've noticed this same thing with milk. I normally use semi milk and freeze it, when it defrosts it always seems 'weaker', it tastes ok, i use it.

pollywollydoodle_2

I have found this with all the different varieties of soups I have frozen and defrosted. (I was on a pureed diet for months after a jaw op so made sure I had plenty of soups in the freezer.:D ) Keep the liquid as well and just reheat it all together, once it starts getting warm you will notice it gets back to it's normal state.

nesssie1702

The reason that veg soup goes watery after its been frozen is that the freezing process will damage the cell walls of the veg (even though it's been cooked) and this releases the water in the cell. So, when you defrost your soup it appears more watery than it was when you froze it.

In fact, any food that's been frozen will give off a watery exudate due to the cell damage and that's one reason why it's not good to freeze and re-freeze foods over again (as well as from a food safety viewpoint) as it can reduce the quality.

Reheating the soup will return it back to its normal state