isolation essentials – part 2: food in the freezer

How To Make isolation essentials – part 2: food in the freezer

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  PREP/PREPARE
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  During this time, we need to minimize our exposure and contact, but we still have to eat, and that means produce. And, that means the grocer. To minimize exposure, we want our produce to last as long as possible, and avoid if any way possible, having to throw away spoiled items. Of course, one of the best ways to preserve perishable veggies and fruits is to freeze them. It is all about temperature. It goes without saying that the development of refrigerators and freezers changed forever how we work with, and store perishable foods. For example, imagine life without ice cream, fresh fruit, ice-cold beer or frozen entrees. Imagine having to go to the grocer every day just to make sure your food was fresh. With that in mind, here are some tips on freezing fruit and veggies…
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  Freezing Tip #1
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  You want the freshest produce that you can find. I call it “produce triage.” Look in your fridge and examine your produce (fruits/veggies). The fresh produce gets prepped and frozen; the bits that are getting long-in-the-tooth need to be worked into your next few meals. But, Andy, I do not feel like broccoli tonight. Tough cookies… steam up those little green trees, slather on some butter and cheese, and tuck in. The more you can preserve what you have, the less you will need to go to the grocer and risk exposing yourself to the virus. I bet that broccoli sounds pretty dang good right about now. Just remember that freezing produce does not make it any fresher… choose the best to freeze, and the rest… eat as soon as possible.
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  Freezing Tip #2 (if you are freezing fruit, skip this step)
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  Most veggies should be blanched before freezing; but fruit is never blanched Blanching involves dropping the prepped veggies into boiling water for a bit, then plunging them into ice water before freezing. Blanching achieves several objectives • Stops the enzymes that causes discoloration and turns frozen produce mushy • Kills certain enzymes in vegetables that make them bitter • Many green vegetables turn a brighter green color when blanched • The heat kills some surface bacteria and removes most of the dirt from the vegetables • Keeps flavors fresh and seals in vitamins The Process It is possible to blanch veggies using boiling water, steam, or a microwave. Water is the easiest, and the most efficient, so that is what we are going to use. You will need: •A pot of boiling water (no salt) •A bowl of ice water The process goes something like this: • Prep your veggies. For example, if you are freezing bell peppers, cut them open, remove the seeds, then either dice or cut into strips. • Drop them into the boiling water for the prescribed amount of time. •Then, immediately plunge them into the ice water bath for about a minute. Here are the boiling times for some veggies. Boil for the suggested amount of time, and then plunge into ice water: • Asparagus: 3 minutes • Beans (Green or Wax): 3 minutes • Broccoli (cut into 1-inch pieces): 2 minutes • Brussels Sprouts: 3 to 5 minutes, depending on size • Cauliflower (cut into 1-inch pieces): 3 minutes • Kohlrabi (cut into 1-inch cubes): 1 minute • Leafy Greens: 1 to 2 minutes (use the longer time for collards and cabbage) •M Okra: 2 to 3 minutes, depending on size • Peas (in the pod): 2 to 3 minutes, depending on size • Peas (shelled): 1.5 minutes • Peppers: 2 minutes • Chayote Squash: 2 minutes • Summer Squash: 3 minutes
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  Freezing Tip $3
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  Spread the produce out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze in a single layer. Problem: Okay, so you blanch your veggies, and dry them off. Then, you put them in a baggie and freeze them. In the next few days you go back in and grab that bag, and what do you have? A big solid lump of frozen veggies. And, you only wanted to use half. I HATE it when that happens. Solution: Spread the prepped, blanched, dried veggies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and throw them into the freezer for about an hour. Then, place them into a sealed bag, and toss in the freezer. Now, when you need some, you can open it up, take what you need out, reseal, and Bob’s your uncle.
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  Freezing Tip #4
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  Store in airtight bags or containers, and date them. Even frozen fruits and veggies will only last so long. You can still eat them, but after a certain date they will begin losing their fresh flavor. If you store them in freezer bags (like Ziploc), and remove as much air as possible, here is how long they will last: If kept at a constant temperature, depending on the preparation method and how the frozen vegetables were stored before freezing, most produce will last 6 – 8 months. What happens to veggies and fruits when they are frozen? When you freeze produce, it is important to get them frozen as fast as possible. Companies that manufacture and sell frozen produce (Swanson’s, etc.) use special freezers that go down to -50f (-46c) and lower. That is a difficult (impossible) thing to do using a household freezer; however, we can give the process a bit of help. • About two hours before freezing the produce, lower the temp of your freezer to its lowest setting. • Blanch the veggies; do not blanch fruit. • Following the above instructions, spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze, then store. • Do not freeze too much produce at the same time. The room-temp produce can lower the temperature of the freezer. One baking sheet at a time is all you want to do. • When you have finished all your freezing and storage, return the freezer to its normal setting.
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  So, what happens when we freeze produce? When produce is frozen, the water within the cells freezes and damages the cell walls. The faster you can freeze it the less damage occurs; hence the reason for turning down your freezer to its lowest setting. Because of this cellular damage, frozen produce will still maintain the flavor it had before freezing; however, it will not have that crispness or snap, of fresh produce. For that reason, I do not recommend using frozen produce raw on things like salads, or fruit toppings. For example, you froze some strawberries… do not use them to top a scoop of vanilla ice cream or use some frozen/thawed veggies to top a plate of lettuce. However, use the veggies in cooking (soups, stews, etc.), and the fruit can be mashed into a compote, making jams, jellies, preserves, and smoothies. It is not about taste; it is about mouth feel.
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  Freezing Tip #5
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  Remove as much air as possible before placing in the freezer. The best way to do this is with a vacuum sealer. If you do not have one, I would strongly suggest hopping over to Amazon, and picking one up. Studies show that food (like veggies, fruits, raw meats, etc.), when stored in freezer bags will last about 6 – 8 months. However, foods stored using a vacuum sealer will last upwards of 2 - 3 years… WOW!!! My favorite brand of vacuum sealer is FoodSaver. They have a lot of different models, and as much as I use the three that I have, there has never been the slightest problem. If you do not have one, nor plan to purchase one, then you will still need to get as much of the air out of the freezer bag as possible (this prevents freezer burn). The Water Displacement Method To use this method, start by placing your food inside a zipper-lock bag, then seal the bag, leaving just the last inch or so of the seal open. Next, you lower the bag into a pot or tub of water. As the bag gets lowered, water pressure will push air out of the bag through the small opening you left. Just before the bag gets completely submerged, seal off the opening and pull the whole bag out of the tub. Dry the outside of the bag off, and toss in the freezer.
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  Freezing Tip #6
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  What is the best way to thaw frozen produce? We will start with the simplest method… The simplest way to go about defrosting frozen vegetables is to not defrost them at all. Simply skip the thawing process and go straight to the cooking step. You are working on a soup, stew, stir fry, whatever. Why bother defrosting the veggies, just chuck ‘em in. Same thing with making a smoothie… Throw the fruit in the blender and blend away. Thaw Under Water Defrost specific leafy and bulky frozen vegetables, like broccoli spears, turnip greens and spinach, by holding them in their packaging under cold running water. Avoid warm or hot water. When thawed, open the packaging and briefly drain the vegetables in a colander before using in a recipe. Note: Boiling frozen vegetables may make them mushy and watery, and adding them to soups and stews will add a bit of liquid to the final product, so you can hold back on liquid from other sources in the recipes. Note: Cook frozen vegetables immediately after thawing to avoid mushiness.
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  Freezing Fruits
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  Wash fruits and sort for damaged fruit before freezing. Some fruits do best with a sugar or sugar-syrup preparation. Blueberries, currants, and cranberries do fine without sugar. With the exception of blanching, simply follow the above steps. Note: For fruits that tend to brown, like apples, peaches, nectarines and apricots, add a tablespoon or two lemon juice to a bowl containing about two cups of cool water, then pat dry, and freeze.
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  Let me leave you with a few more tips on using frozen produce: Tomatoes - Use these for cooking only. (ie: make spaghetti sauce and other tomato sauces). Yellow, Orange, Red, Green (Sweet Peppers) - Use these for cooking only (ie: putting them in cream sauces, tomato sauces, etc.) The peppers will be soft, but you will still get the flavor of the peppers when cooked in the sauces. Beets and greens with stems - Use only for cooking. This is a great way for slicing, shredding and even cutting for pickled beets. Beet greens and Stems - Use these in soups or any other cooking dish. Just rinse them and put them in a plastic bag. Then put in freezer. When ready to use, cut with scissors while still frozen. Green and Red (Cabbage) - Use only for cooking. If you make cabbage rolls you will love this. They come out of the freezer soft, and perfect for rolling. There are, of course, other ways to preserve produce, such as: canning and dehydrating; however, I will leave those subjects for another day.
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  Keep the faith, and keep cooking.
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