Why does frozen cauliflower always have to be thrown out? I have frozen several varieties over the years but when cooked it always tastes 'off' and goes in the bin. I have tried blanching and non-blanching. It always discolours and is inedible when cooked so gets thrown out immediately. Am I just wasting freezer space trying?
It's never the same but makes nice soup (and a bit of stilton of course)!
I cook a whole cauli for the meal with loads of white sauce, then the leftovers I pack into tuppers and freeze... then out the freezer to thaw and mic for a few minutes.. delicious. Just like fresh.. 6 months down the line even.
p.s. I do the same for mash...
I only freeze it in cheese sauce as it mushes up, every time :happy7:
Use mine mostly for Cream of Cauliflower soup
This isn't an isolated case - many veg freeze much better as a meal and then they completely avoid that off taste - the same goes for runner beans (in spades), courgettes and tomatoes - there are many other examples.
But you don't need to make a complete meal - just cooking them up with one or two (or more) of the other dodgy ones produces a delicious half-meal that takes up less space in the freezer than they would separately - and all you need to do is add some meat or cheese or whatever you use to make up a full meal. Cooking them all up together makes ratatouille - best served with free-range grey tree-rat (or with flying rat - or both).
At its simplest - just lightly frying these troublesome veg with a few onions gets rid of the off taste.
Actually cauliflower is a special case anyway - because the obvious way to preserve its texture is to pickle it... Bottling it without vinegar isn't a good idea - the extra cooking needed to make it safe will destroy it more than freezing.
Cheers.
The only veg I freeze as stand alone veg are sweet corn, tomatoes, broad beans and onions if I feel the onions are not good for storing. Because I am so dissapointed with the taste of my frozen veg I now prefer to make ready meals/soup/ vegetable curries for the freezer with my veg. Even the frozen chopped onions are useful when making a quick dinner or soup.
The mushiness is due to the rate at which you freeze it, the relatively high level of water forms large ice crystals as a domestic freezer takes some hours to reach the -20deg level, especially if cooling a large batch of fresh food. Commercial producers of frozen foods use "blast freezing" which drops the temperature almost instantly, and does not form such large crystals.
At home some improvement may be achieved if the produce is cool to start with and small quantities at a time ,can be put into a large freezer already at -20 deg. The elimination of as much air in your packaging as possible, will speed the cooling and reduce the "taint". A good method to do this is to submerge the pack partially in iced water, keeping the neck of the bag above the water and eliminate the air.Twist the neck of the bag tightly,, fold over and seal with two ties or grips The clipseal bags are excellent, also enabling the removal of small quantities for use. Storage times and stock control should be addressed as it is unreasonable to expect to keep home processed frozen food as long as the commercial product.
A couple of rules on freezing veg:
Veg has to be at least blanched before freezing or else enzymes destroy the flavour.
Veg has to be instantly frozen (industrial standard process) or the texture is badly damaged.
I have to wonder though, why grow veg fresh and then freeze it and eat it when it is worse that the cheapest commercial frozen products? Homes do not have the equipment to freeze 'fresh' veg properly.
Best thing to do with any excess is make soup and freeze that. Then flavour and texture will be no issue.
And your own fresh veg will make superb soup!
Quote from: g-uk on February 17, 2014, 17:34:13
I have to wonder though, why grow veg fresh and then freeze it
Best thing to do with any excess is make soup and freeze that. Then flavour and texture will be no issue.
And your own fresh veg will make superb soup!
It is only frozen if we are not going to eat it before it blows so as to try no to waste it. I will give the soup a go as we have never frozen homemade soup. Not sure how long it will stand in the freezer for though.
We made a huge batch of parsnip soup last october and it lasted us all through the winter. I would guess it should be fine for 12 months with any veg.
You won't regret making the soup.
Enjoy!