What Vegetables To Freeze Fresh? And How?

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You are at the farmer’s market and are amazed at all the fresh organic vegetables and fruits. They are so fresh and beautiful that you want to buy a lot, knowing that those might be hard to find during the winter months. So you are wondering if you can somehow keep those veggies and fruits fresh for a longer time?

Actually it’s possible to keep vegetables and fruits fresh. By freezing them, that is. Vegetables are best eaten fresh, but not everyone has the luxury of having fresh vegetables available all year round. And frozen fresh vegetables are the next best thing.

One key point to note in freezing vegetables is that vegetables should be frozen when they are fresh, as fresh as you just brought them home from the market. Or if you grow your own vegetables, harvest them while it’s cool and freeze right away. It’s important to blanch (most of) them and keep them out of contact with air. Blanching gets rid of dirt and bacteria, and prevent enzymes from damaging the color, flavor, and nutrients of the vegetables. Contact with air changes the color and flavor. Most of frozen vegetables can be kept for 6 months or longer. Even if frozen vegetables are still good after size months in the freezer, it does not make much sense to do that when you can buy fresh again. It makes most sense to buy just enough to last until the next season.

Some frozen vegetables might last a shorter period of time.

So what vegetables to freeze?

Asparagus, beans, beets, broad beans, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, peas, peppers, potatoes, pumpkin, squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, turnips, etc.

How does blanching work?

According to Wikipedia,

Blanching is a cooking process wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process.

In certain cuisines, blanching is pretty common. Quite a few vegetables are usually just blanched before being eaten (mostly) raw. The blanching we are talking about here is of course for the purpose of freezing, and not all vegetables should undergo the blanching process before being frozen, such as onion and mushrooms.

How to prepare the vegetables before blanching?

Simply wash the vegetables as you normally do before cooking them and cut them into whatever shape you plan to use them when you take them out of the freezer. For example, you will want to shell the peas and beans, and likely cut broccoli and cabbages into smaller pieces. Always remember that when you take your frozen vegetables from the freezer, you do not want to cut them again before cooking. Most will thaw badly, so it’s advisable not to thaw them completely before cooking.

How to pack the vegetables?

The vegetables should be kept air-tight in containers or freezer bags. Vegetables can be frozen on a baking sheet and then put in a container (thus easier to use whatever amount as appropriate for the occasion) or in smaller frozen bags.

Blanched vegetables can be put into container before freezing, but one should  be aware that it might be hard to get just the amount you need from such a container, unless you want to cook the whole container. It’s generally not a good idea to thaw frozen food and then put it back into the freezer. Also keep in mind that the container should not be brim-full as the vegetables will certainly expand during freezing. Clean the lid and brims of the container with a piece of dry cloth. That way it will open more easily.

Do not forget to properly label the bags and containers, name of vegetable and packing date are a minimum.

P.S. In case you are wondering what has become of the tomato frozen shown in the featured image, here is what it looks like after 24 hours in the fridge in a Ziploc bag:

Here is the image when it was cut into halves:

So I guess you can freeze a washed tomato in whole without blanching if you just want to make stew with it.