Freeze fresh fruit/veg?

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Hi vickym,

I've fixed ladygrey's link so it works now. Here are another couple of threads that might help:

Freezing vegetables

Freeze fresh fruit/veg?

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troll35

Hi there everyone. I currently have a glut of perpetual spinach and swiss chard. I know that it should be blanched before freezing, but how exactly do you do this? Then what do you do before freezing it.

Sorry my question sounds strange but I am imagining huge quantities of cooked spinach as huge lumps of ice in my freezer. When you buy it frozen it is in small lumps. I'm trying to figure out what I've got that is bigger than an ice cube tray that I can use.:o

gwinnie

Bring water to the boil in a large pot.

Throw in the veg. I do a handful at a time.

The water will come off the boil.

As soon as it boils up again, take the veg out and drop into a pot of cold water to stop it cooking.

Then take out with a slotted spoon and squeeze out the excess water by hand.

Divide into portions and place on a baking tray lined with a sheet of greaseproof paper.

Put this in the fast freeze tray of the freezer.

When frozen, bag up the portions in the usual way.

Chip_Butty_3

Hi'ya,
Just looked it up for you in a Freezer Cookbook for you.

Chard - Wash Leaves, cut iner ribs to short lengths. Put in boiling water betwen 2 & 3 mins then dunk into a basin of cold water (as cold as possible). Shake off as much excess water as possible before placing into a freezer bag.

Spinach - wash & into boiling water betwen 30 seconds for small leaves uptp two mins for bigger. Then the same process as above. Into cold water, drain off as much water as possible & into a frezer bag.

Best way is to bag what you would use when needed.

Cooking - Toss in hot butter & boil for around 7 mins.

Hope that is of some help.

thriftlady_2

I never blanch veg prior to freezing.

10 lb of broad bean for £3 the other day.I just podded them and bagged them up and they went straight in the freezer.They seem fine to me.

leeegglestone

At work I was saying that I put some Vegetables into the Freezer straight from being Raw.

They say that by doing this the vegetables lose all their vitamins and goodness and that they should be "Blanched" first.

Unknown to what this meant, I am told that they should be boiled in hot water for a couple of minutes before.

Is this correct?

hole_in_pocket_2

yes correct

place in rapidily boiling water a few at a time (so the water keeps on the boil) remove with a slotted spoon and cool rapidly (ice/cold water) pat dry and pack in suitable container.

leeegglestone

I have put some veg in the freezer without doing this. so is that veg no good anymore, with no goodness inside?

Biddyrolo

To quote my freezer book " You should blanch veg for long term storage ie longer than 2 weeks. This stops enzymes working which cause spoilage and loss of flavour and colour even when frozen" So if you've just done it you should be ok.

zippy75

I found this thread interesting, as I've been wondering about freezing fresh veg myself...

I was wondering about steaming them though rather than blanching, or would this not be advisable? (I was thinking steaming because steaming retains the nutrients etc. more in normal cooking).

Any thoughts?

Zippy