Freezing Zucchini

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I like my summer squash sauteed with onion and butter. When I was little I called it squish instead of squash, because my granny would cook it way too long, lol.

She used to blanch her squash and freeze it. There was a lot of water (maybe left over from blanching) and I remember it taking a long time to "boil" off. That's probably why it was "squish".

So last night I had several zucchini's I wanted to save so I cut them in coins and stuck them in quart freezer bags and put them in the freezer. I plan on cooking them within 2 or 3 weeks so this method I believe is fine for that.

Now what about long term storage? Is it still the blanch and freeze? How do I eliminate the extra water? I need suggestions.

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

BTW, I have quart freezer bags and a food saver (vacuum bag system). available to me. I do not own a "water bath" canner or a pressure cooker.

 

[berry_Bob]

you could try drying a batch , then soak in water a few hrs and see how that fries up

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I too was over run with zuc last year. So I shredded alot of it (raw), using my food processor blade. Handfulls went into pint zipper bags, and frozen. When I thaw it, I simply put in a strainer and squeeze out the excess water.

I have a terrific zuc souffle recipe. Google New York Times zuc souffle. Except I can't afford the cheese they recommend, so I used regular swiss. YUMMY x 2!

 

[bid]

I am not sure how this is going to work out as I have never tried it before. A friend gave us a sackfull of zucchini last week (went on vacation for a week so picked the garden before they left). I sauteed some, made some stir fry and still had plenty of zucs left.

I julienned some, coined some, blanched for 3 minutes and froze on a tray before bagging for the freezer. The julienne was a lot of trouble and not real sure that will turn out all that great for stir fries. But it was either that or feed it to the chickens, so nothing really to lose but a little of my time.

I don't think you can eliminate the extra water as my frozen yellow squash always seems to have that extra amount. I thinking freezing before bagging helps a little.