My especially talented sister Elin is an amazing urban homesteader who has been freezing vegetables for years! As a matter of fact, she’s written all sorts of foodie posts on her blog, including about hot water bath canning the season’s harvest. You know, for a little taste of summer in the dead of winter. Accordingly, she’s also been preparing and canning salsas and other yummy things for the bleaker months ahead.
That’s WAY too much work for me. Remember, I am undeniably a lazy-ass when it comes to making food. Everything’s basically gotta be super Fisher-Price for me, or I lose interest.
Freezing fresh vegetables and beyond
Elin, therefore, sensibly suggested that I “freezer can” instead, which is basically making food things and freezing it in Ziploc bags. This explicitly was a much, much better idea. But what about all that “preserving the flavors of the season” thereafter stuff? I want that. I just don’t want the work.
Never fear, my equally lazy brethren! There is an easy solution: Fake flash-freezing. (Whether it be an actual recipe or just freezing vegetables whole.) In short, you can do this with pretty much anything.
As you probably know, real flash-freezing is taking veggies and getting them from fresh to frozen in a fancy industrial freezer that freezes them in, well, a flash. That’s how the freshness is locked in. Now, we mere non-commercial mortals can’t do *exactly* the same thing, but having tasted my results, I can tell you that we can get pretty damn close.
Why you’ll love Freezing Vegetables
We’d had a fabulous harvest of Garden of Eden Romano Beans (along with tomatoes, cucumbers, and snow pears earlier) in the urban organic nano farm (hit up my @celiacgirlonthego Instagram account for more pics). Garden of Eden beans have a rich, creamy flavor and meaty texture. Naturally, I want to enjoy them when it’s dark, bitterly cold, and grim with grey snow outside. Now I can.
You can certainly use this method with beans, peas, peppers, and pretty much any veggie with a firmer skin or casing. It’s simple, and the results are terrific. And furthermore, it’s not season-dependent: got a great deal on sugar snap peas in February in bulk? No problem, fake flash freeze them and enjoy them later.
How to freeze vegetables with Fake Flash Freezing
Ingredients and Equipment
– Your veggies
– A pan of boiling water
– A bowl of ice water in the sink
– Paper or microfiber towel
– A cookie baking sheet lined with…
– Parchment paper
Instructions:
1. Prep your veggies. (In my case, I had to cut the stems and tails from my beans)
2. Place them in your pan of boiling water for ONE MINUTE ONLY. They will suddenly intensify their color. Another key point: you’re NOT cooking the veggies, just stopping their aging enzymes in their tracks.
3. Plunge them into the ice water. You want them to stop their cooking immediately.
3. Dry them off on the towels. You don’t want them sticking together in the freezer.
4. Spread them out on the parchment-lined cookie sheet.
5. Freeze for a few hours until they’re solid (as can be seen in my bag below).
6. Ziploc bag’em and toss them in the freezer for later.
It’s really that easy. You’ll consequently have a better assortment of veggies in your freezer for use later as a result of the fruits of your labor. And correspondingly, you can feel like you’re a modern-day pioneer woman. Without the wagon and bonnet.
Happy Eating! x
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