Freezing is now the most common method of food preservation, and comes into its own for medium term storage. As most fruit and vegetables are some 90% water, the propagation of water crystals during the freezing process in the domestic freezer, can destroy the texture of the fruit or vegetables. Commercially, they use “blast freezing”, which freezes the produce so fast that only smaller water crystals form. By turning down your freezer thermostat several hours before you intend to freeze the produce, or using a “fast freeze” setting if you have one, and only freezing small quantities at any one time, will improve your chances of an acceptable result. Even with these precautions, some vegetables will end up in a flabby, mushy state, and in my view are not worth the effort.
Do not bother freezing Runner or French Beans, Mange tout or Snap Peas, Celery, Bulb Fennel, Turnip, Tomatoes, Beetroot, Courgettes, Marrows, Parsnips. However, I have included indicative times if you really want to try freezing these vegetables, though I feel that they are better used fresh.
Vegetables require to be Blanched before freezing, as soon as possible after picking. This destroys all bacteria and enzymes which cause the produce to start to deteriorate as soon as it has been picked. Only use good quality vegetables, cutting them into evenly sized pieces, no bigger than an egg.
Blanching vegetables with a Pressure Cooker. Insert the trivet into the Pressure Cooker, add 300 ml water, bring to fast boil. Lower the prepared vegetables into the Pressure Cooker, close the cooker with the lid set to Medium pressure and blanche for the time indicated. Immediately reduce pressure and plunge the blanched vegetables into running cold water, to prevent further cooking. When the vegetables are cold, drain them well before starting the freezing process.
Broad Beans (shelled), Broccoli, Cauliflower (firm only), Leeks, Peppers. 1 minute.
Peas (shelled), Courgettes, Morrow, Spinach, French and Runner Beans, Celery, Bulb Fennel,to pressure only.
Corn on the cob (remove husk and silks and leave whole), 3 minutes.
Blanching vegetables in a large, deep pan. Prepare the vegetables as indicated above. Fill the pan 2/3 full and bring to the boil. Completely immerse the vegetables, bring back to the boil, and blanch for the above times plus one or two minutes. Immediately cool in running cold water and drain before freezing, as before.
Fruit freezing.If freezing fruit whole, top and tail as necessary, wash, drain and pat dry with Kitchen paper. Open freeze and then put into a poly bag and seal. If freezing a puree, put into a plastic container, but leave about 10 ml space before fitting lid. A space is required to allow for the expansion of liquids on freezing.
Soups. Follow the method above for liquids.
Herbs. Wash and pat dry the herbs and freeze in a poly bag. Roughly handle the bag and the frozen herbs will break up into smaller pieces, that you can use as necessary. Alternatively, wash and chop the herbs and pack tightly into ice cube trays. Fill with water to brim, freeze and then put frozen herb cubes into poly bags and use as necessary.
