We don't have a pressure cooker for low Ph canning and we have a sweet ass freezer begging to get filled. We have begun to blanch and freeze some of our veggies to keep us going during the Winter months. The last two batches have been five pounds of green beans and about five pounds of corn.
There's nothing fancy about our prep process. We blanch the veggies in boiling water (with a little bit of salt) for a few minutes, drain them, and then put them in an ice bath to stop them from cooking.
After they've cooled, we drain them again ( we actually let them sit in the strainer for a few minutes to let any excess water drip off) and spread them out evenly on cookie trays.
This is where the genius happens.
We put the trays in our freezer above the refrigerator to stiffen a bit before we store them in a bag or plastic container. To keep the trays separated, we used wine corks as stilts between each layer. I'm telling you it works like a charm. If you want to try it, but don't have enough corks, throw a party.
31 August 2008
Frozen Veggies
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7 comments:
The wine corks are a lovely idea. I just wish we had enough produce ripening to freeze it all right now...Thanks for the ideas.
Oh, what a great idea! We've been putting up stuff over the last week or so, and I've been cursing my freezer space, as I can only get a couple of trays in at once. Brilliant!
The corks are a great idea! We do the sheet freezing trick too, but haven't advanced to using spacers like the corks! Thanks for the tip! Oh, and here's a tip in return. Freeze your pesto in ice cube trays (transfer when frozen to a zip-lock bag) for convenient single servings.
Dan at Henbogle
Like Katie, I wish I had enough veggies to follow your example.
Good looking process, though.
YUM!!
What a haul.
:)
That is a truly brilliant idea. We use the open freezing in trays system but I would never in a million years have thought of using corks to separate them.
We have a glut of beans from the allotment this year - now I can freeze them much more efficiently, saving electricity too.
Looks like my freezer lately. Best way to go if you have the freezer space. I like frozen veggies better than canned :)
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