I pulled in a mess of broccoli tonight. I would like to freeze it. I
read somewhere that you blanch it for 3-5 minutes, emerse
in cold water til heat is gone and the one must dry it before
freezing ( water on it will turn it soggy ? ). How does one dry it.
I would like it as fresh as possible and the idea of leaving it out
to air dry after blanching it seems to defeat the idea of freshness ..

Any suggestions ?

TIA

= Me =

MrMe wrote:
I pulled in a mess of broccoli tonight. I would like to freeze it. I
read somewhere that you blanch it for 3-5 minutes, emerse
in cold water til heat is gone and the one must dry it before
freezing ( water on it will turn it soggy ? ). How does one dry it.
I would like it as fresh as possible and the idea of leaving it out
to air dry after blanching it seems to defeat the idea of freshness ..

Any suggestions ?

TIA

= Me =


Blanch it, quench it, and then shake the excess water off. Doesn't need
to be dry. Then bag it in freezer bags or Tupperware freezer
containers. HTH

Bob

There's another method where you cook the vegetables less time than
normally recommended, and instead of blanching them, just lay them on
paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and the steam will dry them and
the heat left in them, will keep them cooking a bit. That way, you
have a drier product to package for the freezer without getting any
ice forming on it from moisture left over from dunking them in water
after cooking.
That information, and the timing for various vegetables may be in some
of the new canning books. It's worth a trip to library or a book store
to see if you can find it, if the technique has any interest for you.


Regards,
June

In article
,
June wrote:

There's another method where you cook the vegetables less time than
normally recommended, and instead of blanching them, just lay them on
paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and the steam will dry them and
the heat left in them, will keep them cooking a bit. That way, you
have a drier product to package for the freezer without getting any
ice forming on it from moisture left over from dunking them in water
after cooking.
That information, and the timing for various vegetables may be in some
of the new canning books. It's worth a trip to library or a book store
to see if you can find it, if the technique has any interest for you.


Regards,
June

Hardware stores that sell cases of jars and other canning equipment
usually also sell the current edition of the Ball Blue Book. It's cheap
(under $10) and has all the latest info on food preservation techniques
and lots of yummy recipes.

Jan

sometime in the recent past MrMe posted this:
I pulled in a mess of broccoli tonight. I would like to freeze it. I
read somewhere that you blanch it for 3-5 minutes, emerse
in cold water til heat is gone and the one must dry it before
freezing ( water on it will turn it soggy ? ). How does one dry it.
I would like it as fresh as possible and the idea of leaving it out
to air dry after blanching it seems to defeat the idea of freshness ..

Any suggestions ?

TIA

= Me =
We blanch everything no more than 3 mins., immerse it in ice-water (yep,
chunks of ice in there) and then we used to pat dry on a towel, but
discovered that a few turns around the salad spinner saves time and towels.
We used to bag in zip-lock quarts, manually removing excess air by sealing
them almost all the way and puckering the last inch sucking it out by mouth.
Yeah, yeah - repulsed quivers and all, but this just for me & my wife. Now
we use the Foodsaver and can invite guests ;-)

--
Wilson N45 W67