|
|
| Author |
Message |
keesan
|
|
Freezing foods
| 
Sep 7 16:55 UTC 1998 |
The item for discussing how to freeze foods.
|
| 8 responses total. |
keesan
|
|
response 1 of 8:
|
Sep 7 16:59 UTC 1998 |
We are experimenting with microwave-blanching of vegetables before freezing
them, rather than the conventional method of putting them in boiling water
for a few minutes followed by a soak in cold water, which makes them taste
like tasteless boiled vegetables. We chopped up our experimental subjects
(brussels sprout leaves), microwaved them for a total of 6 minutes in a
covered glass dish (stirring every 2 minutes), let them sit 2 more minutes,
then put into a one quart freezer back (about 2-3 cups of greens, pressed down
first), flattened the bag, and put the whole bag in cold water. This will
we hope eliminate the loss of flavor and nutrients. Has anyone else done much
home freezing by any method? Our next experiment will be peppers and lima
beans. Fruit does not seem to need blanching, we are putting strawberries,
peaches and blueberries in plastic freezer containers (square). The bags let
us press the air out from around the vegetables to reduce oxidation (which
we did not do when we froze the green beans, you can see lots of air in teh
plastic containers along with ice crystals).
|
keesan
|
|
response 2 of 8:
|
Sep 10 17:50 UTC 1998 |
The lima beans were microwaved for 3 minutes then frozen in bags. We have
since made tomato juice with a Victoria strainer (tomato spiral), frozen
raw in square freezer containers, and cooked pear juice (cut up, remove bad
spots, boil until mushy, run through Foley food mill, taste skins that were
left behind and decide they are gritty and tasteless and throw out) and freeze
as juice (one potful makes two plus quarts). Do not pressure cook eggplants,
they turn to soup. We could not find the big pot so used the pressure cooker
but let it reach 5 pounds, a mistake. Still have lots of peppers and okra,
and the friend with grapes says they are ready. They will be put through the
grape spiral, raw, juice frozen raw. A second pressing gives something less
tasty but okay in oatmeal. What sorts of cooked vegetable dishes freeze well?
|
keesan
|
|
response 3 of 8:
|
Sep 12 19:43 UTC 1998 |
Today we bought a bushel of Japanese style eggplant (four of those large boxes
with handles) for $12, and microwaved the slices for 5 minutes each, then put
them in cold water for a couple of minutes then into freezer boxes. We got
two large boxes of free tomatoes that were soft. We also bought a large box
of very red peppers for $7.50, which we baked until the skins turned dark,
then steamed in a plastic bag for a few minutes to help loosen the skins, then
peeled and removed core and seeds and froze five to a quart freezer bag. I
think we cooked them a bit too long as some fell apart. 350 was recommended
but me might try 400 for a shorter time just to scorch the skins. Has anyone
made pickled peppers? In Macedonia the baked ones are somehow preserved in
jars with vinegar and garlic. This time of year you see people outside baking
peppers on large metal pans over open fires, smells wonderful. There was not
much available fresh in the winter, basically potatoes and apples and
cabbages, and early in the season carrots and onions. You could buy pickled
peppers or cabbage or beets, and frozen cauliflower or beans or peas. People
ate a lot of pickles (also cukes) all winter. Stufpickled-cabbage.
|
keesan
|
|
response 4 of 8:
|
Sep 16 20:35 UTC 1998 |
The second time we baked the peppers we used a 400 degree oven, not preheated,
put in only one pan, took the pan out and turned the peppers after 10 minutes,
and after another ten minutes turned them again and shut off the oven. They
peeled more easily and were not as overcooked. Dipping the hot peppers in
water before peeling protects the hands.
Froze okra: cut off the stem but do not cut through as far as the seeds.
For a large bowl we did the larger okra two minutes and then put in the small
and gave it all another 2 minutes, until it changed color. Packed one layer
deep in a quart freezer bag, and then sucked out the air with straw to prevent
oxidation.
We got another half bushel of limas, which are taking forever to shell - any
ideas on how to do it faster? Got the larger ones for easier shelling.
Will also try to freeze purple Chinese mustard greens, cauliflower, and
possible beets (the seller said she had done it) or can them after pressure
cooking whole, cooling and peeling.
We put the sealed flat bags of hot food into cold water (except for
the eggplant) to avoid loss of flavor while cooling them.
Our refrigerator is now badly frosted up in the freezer section and
running continuously trying to cool too much at once.
The crowder peas needed more cooking than limas and did not have as
much taste. The two men are still selling them at the market - green (eat
the pods), shell stage, and dry. They seemed appreciative of our buying so
many limas, they are loaded with them.
What does one do with frozen limas other than soups and stir fries?
(Please include recipes without eggs or cheese).
|
keesan
|
|
response 5 of 8:
|
Oct 2 03:42 UTC 1998 |
We made grapes into juice with our Victoria strainer and froze that after
letting it sit overnight in gallon jugs to settle out the tartaric acid.
We pressure-cooked beets until tender before freezing them. Cooked whole,
then peeled and slice and put into square containers. Joy of Cooking says
to cook until tender, not just blanch.
Slice apples and freeze them raw, or make applesauce first. We cut off the
brown rotten spots and froze the same day we picked.
We seem to be too late to pick blueberries or raspberries, they are two weeks
earlier than usual this year. We got another freezer, which Jim is
repainting, and we wil use one large one instead of two small ones.
May eventually freeze cooked cabbage and blanched carrots, in December.
|
iggy
|
|
response 6 of 8:
|
Oct 2 15:10 UTC 1998 |
wow, reading about this makes me wonder how it was
like back in the pioneer days. where folks had to
store food for the winter or starve...
|
keesan
|
|
response 7 of 8:
|
Oct 2 18:46 UTC 1998 |
Root cellars. Preserving with salt or sugar (sauerkraut, jam). Drying of
apples and other fruits. They ate a lot of animals then, and the animals will
eat silage and grains. Cut-up-animals were also salted and dried.
|
keesan
|
|
response 8 of 8:
|
Sep 28 19:38 UTC 1999 |
We are into freezing season again. Grape juice, tomato juice, apple sauce.
New for this year: edible green soybeans. Used in Japan, China, Korea, in
stir fries, salads, soups (group up with miso), or as a snack, boiled in the
pod and eaten by popping into the mouth. To freeze them we boiled the pods
for ten minutes and then laboriously extracted the beans. Took 8 hours to
extract one third of a bushel. The last third of a bushel is being dried.
It may not cook up as fresh tasting but will save time now. Oddly enough,
we got these beans at the market from the southern gentlemen who sold us the
bushel of lima beans, half bushel of okra, and lots of mustard greens. It
is this year's experiment. We have been freezing assorted Chinese brassicas
(Chi. cabbage, Korean purple mustard greens, etc.) from the people who also
sell crunchy yellow melon, fuzzy winter melon, bitter melon, and other
oriental delicacies that they do not know how to cook themselves, which we
get very cheap by showing up at 3 pm and taking what did not sell that day.
Their experiment this year is, strangely enough, black-eyed peas, a
traditional southern crop, which we are drying and shelling. Good in soup.
Brocolli and cauliflower from these same people freeze well in bags after a
brief microwaving.
|