The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: Clarebelle on March 04, 2015, 04:09:48 pm

Title: frozen veg?
Post by: Clarebelle on March 04, 2015, 04:09:48 pm

I haven't really had much call for freezing veg before but since buying a huge freezer I have done it a bit more. Specifically I did a big batch of diced onion, celery and carrots and portioned them out and stuck them in the freezer. Now I've come to use one of them and there is a lot of water in the tub and the veg themselves are quite soft. Is this because I defrosted them beforehand or should I be doing something to them before freezing? Any tips?

Title: Re: frozen veg?
Post by: Greenerlife on March 04, 2015, 05:04:25 pm

Did you cook them down or just freeze them?  All 3 have a very high water content so if you have just frozen them raw they will not freeze well.

Title: Re: frozen veg?
Post by: Fleecewife on March 04, 2015, 05:50:56 pm

I wouldn't freeze onion or celery.  Onion stores perfectly well and celery would do just what yours did.  I don't freeze carrots either but that's because I can dig them out of the soil nearly all year.  If you do decide to freeze them, then you need to blanche them first.  I'm sure you'll find the method on Youtube or similar.  Basically you boil in plenty of water for a certain number of minutes - beans 1 minute, peas 30 seconds, some things up to 3 mins but for carrots I don't know.  Then you dunk them into very cold water, preferably iced, until they are completely cold.  Spread on a tea towel or kitchen paper to dry then freeze on fast freeze.  If you spread them out in the freezer bag, then when they are frozen you can rattle them so they aren't stuck together any more and you have free-flow veg. Suck all the air out of the freezer bag with a straw. It is a bit of a palaver, which is why I only do those things which freeze well, but don't store any other way.
There are not many things which don't benefit from blanching, but raspberries are one - they can just be spread out on trays to freeze, then stored free-flow in bags in the freezer.

Title: Re: frozen veg?
Post by: Clarebelle on March 04, 2015, 05:55:08 pm

Thanks everyone! I'll try blanching next time!

Title: Re: frozen veg?
Post by: Dan on March 05, 2015, 09:50:56 am

We store carrots in dry sand and they keep very well. We've still got plenty from last year and they are almost as good as freshly dug.

Title: Re: frozen veg?
Post by: devonlady on March 06, 2015, 06:37:20 am

And there's always the fear of power failure. Clamped, stored in sand/peat or dried and you have no problem.