As this is our 1st year of allotment growing we don't have any experience in freezing produce grown on our plot except runner beans and blackberries (i've just eaten the last of our 2 year old frozen ones).
So has anyone got any tips or advice for freezing different fruit and veg?
unless you are intending to keep them for ages I don't bother with blanching, a good tip for corn on the cob is to wrap each one in cling film so they don't all freeze into one mass. Peppers etc cut as you will want to use them eg as strips for stir fry. Some like toms/aubergines we process into tom slop (base for winter casseroles) or as Ratatouie (?). Strawberries go mushy when they defrost but hold their shape well if you drop them whole and frozen into jelly! You will get a bit of excess juice but you can strain that off by tipping the bowl... put abit less water in to start with!
;D
These are a few things I've learned when freezing:
Make sure the fruit/veg is clean and reasonably dry, or it will freeze together in one big lump.
Freeze things in quantities suitable for your family, so you can defrost/use only what you need. Save containers and re-use them.
I have never been able to freeze sweetcorn successfully off the cob, so I freeze it on the cob, but it takes up more room like that.
Freezing things on trays help keeps them separate, you do this first, then put them into a bag when frozen. I find that the re-usable teflon coated sheets are very good for this, and because they are flexible you don't end up chipping off the fruit/veg from the tray.
We ended up buying a chest freezer to capture the produce ...
Bag the produce as you intend to use it, rather than how it is harvested, eg mixed veg in small freezer bags are great for adding to casseroles or rice etc. We also tend to put all the small freezer bags into a larger carrier bag, it makes sorting inside the freezer a lot easier. Like Saddad, I don't bother blanching. I lay the sweetcorn out individually and then bag them when frozen.
Don't freeze onions unless you can seal them hermetically, they will stink the freezer out !!!
Quote from: saddad on May 22, 2006, 22:45:29
unless you are intending to keep them for ages I don't bother with blanching
me neither :)
love tom slop saddad, will adopt that in our family ;)
Who's the early bird then, Sprouty!!
We freeze peppers deseeded & whole for stuffing.
Mini-plum toms do well whole as a casserole/curry addition.
Wrapping corn also keeps it moist.
DON'T keep things for 2 years - they are costing money every day! And they do not improve.
LABEL - LABEL - LABEL & DATE!! And store in areas by type, so you go straight to the thing you want & save door-open time. Even keep a list of what's in there? Colour coding is a great help.
helpful link: http://gardenguides.com/TipsandTechniques/freezing.htm
Useful link that fbgrifter thanks, :) although differs from my old freezer book, how times change. ;)
Quote from: tim on May 23, 2006, 06:34:24
DON'T keep things for 2 years - they are costing money every day! And they do not improve.
Hi Tim can you explain the above - I can understand the they do not improve bit but the - they are costing money every day bit I dont get. Full freezers are more economical to run than empty freezers. In fact if you have a virtually empty chest freezer it is advised to put cardboard boxes in the freezer to reduce the capacity and save on costs.
As tim say "label and date" this is the best advice not only stops the what but also the when guess game! Also and pretty obvious eat the oldest items first otherwise you will end up with 6 year old runner beans lurking in the bottom of the freezer!
A couple of my tips, for parsnips peel and then very briefly blanch, drain and let dry. Then coat in a bit of olive oil and freeze in a bag. The oil stops them sticking together and you simply put them in the roasting try to cook stright from the freezer, no need to defrost.
This also works well for squash.
Rhubbarb, dice and open freeze on a tray before bagging, no need to blanch.
Consider oven drying or dehydrating tomatoes to store in oil, saves freezer space and they are sublime to eat.
Jerry
Very timely jerry, would you have instructions for dehydrating toms WITHOUT an oven (green-dried! ;))?
Quote from: supersprout on May 23, 2006, 08:58:19
Very timely jerry, would you have instructions for dehydrating toms WITHOUT an oven (green-dried! ;))?
Hmmm, doubt our sun will do it this year :(
But I now have one of these:
http://www.ukjuicers.com/dehydrators/HottopKN128E.htm
;D ;D
Though I did not pay even half of that price.... ;D ;D ;D ;D
So far not tried toms but it has worked very well on mushrooms.
Jerry.....going completly off topic!!!!!!
This thread reminded me of solar ovens for cooking and drying food, try the following site for building your own.
http://solarcooking.org/plans.htm
I have not built one myself, nor seen one in use, nor know anymore about them than is shown on site.
Yes, Glowy - a rather loose idea? Trying to mean that a 2 year old bag of veg has cost quite a few pence to store, somewhat nullifying the saving in home-grown. Really, advocating quick turnover wherever possible.
Full freezers? Yes, but I would argue with the 'boxes' idea - since it's a quote I can! My view is that you need frozen mass to maintain an even temperature?? We use coolbag gel blocks to fill vacancies.
People use something similar to that to melt old bee comb into wax blocks. I would imagine you'd need a through draught to dry anything though, and that would nullify a lot of the heating.
Is running a chest freezer economical?
I can appreciate the benefits of having your own 'home' grown produce in storage available year round.
Since we are also growing our own veg for economical reasons, can you tell me if there is savings in running a chest freezer, please? Don't they consume a lot of electricity? Thanks! :)
This is the first part of an answer - I'm 'timed out' every time I try elsewise!! Although I can post happily elsewhere. Been trying since last night.
Right - now try this?? OK - that works. So why can I not now paste my message - I get 'timed out' each time. VERY frustrating.
Right - now try from Word:
VERY clever!! So why won't that go through as a 'paste'?