What do You Freeze?

[ducks4you]

In 2020, I freeze everything BC IT WON'T warm UP!!!

 

[digitS']

Warmed up.

Why is so much of this food preservation in the heat of summer instead of the chill of other seasons when some of the warmth can be appreciated indoors?

Ha. I had new neighbors last year. They are from Hawaii. Meeting them over the fence, I noticed the sweat running down the guy's face. I said something about being used to the heat. He replied, " But it's like being in a microwave!"

I hadn't thought of it that way. I have had Hawaiians tell me about "cooked air" indoors during the winter. One of DD's best friends in school had a native Hawaiian father. Always thought of him as one tough guy .

DW is baking rhubarb bread and I will need to be in stirring sauce, all for the freezer. There is a rhubarb pie in the oven. Yesterday, DW showed me all of peas frozen. There will be more!

I have a fan in the South Window. It's far from hot outside, just yet. Tomorrow morning, it's supposed to be 60°f for only the 3rd time this year. The other mornings like that were several weeks ago. Oh well, the garden plants will grow!

Steve
anticipating stirring splattering rhubarb sauce ...

 

[digitS']

More peas and broccoli on their way to the freezer.


There are already quite a few frozen but that little bowl of snow peas will stay in the kitchen and may be the last for July.

No more!? Well, we will see. I'll sow more seed for snow peas in about 10 days. It struggles but has lived through summer heat over about 10 seasons of doing this. The question will be, what will September bring? About half the harvests are only the tendrils. Frozen blossoms won't create pods. The tendrils are good but about half the time, we will have pods to stir-fry .

Broccoli for fresh and freezing is likely to be coming outta our ears! The plants have done fairly well so far. Aphids have not been a problem. We will get a break with summer heat then back will come the lateral buds.

Steve

 

[digitS']

We use green onions mostly for stir-fries. DW also has a special way to make salsa, it seems to me. She puts fresh green onions and cilantro with either fresh or frozen cherry tomatoes under the broiler and toasts them before adding spices and blending. (Each ingredient requires a different amount of time under the broiler.)

We eat few salads. That's mostly me. I'm not much of a salad fan. So, we eat cooked green onions.

Yes, I like soup . A favorite is leek & potato. Sure, I can grow those and leeks store well in the fridge for a few weeks. What we have found to do with them to extend their use is to chop and freeze. It works!

This year, we are trying the green onions and have filled lots of snack bags with them and frozen. Based on several winters with leeks like this coming into the kitchen and being very useful - this is well worth a try.

Steve

 

[CasaDeLuciaGiardino]

When I freeze I use the vacuum bags if I'm keeping them for long. When I freeze tomatoes, berries, or veggies I'm going to use to make soup, sauce, jelly, or jam those just go into regular zipper freezer bags. I'll also freeze excess celery or deformed carrots or carrot skins from peeling them that I use in chicken broth, just pull out enough for a batch.

I blanch and freeze greens like chard, kale, or collards. The delicate ones like beet greens don't freeze that well. Th flavor is OK but they pretty much turn to mush.

I freeze green peas, black-eyed peas, and carrots for the table. I'm not terribly impressed with the quality of the carrots, they might be rubbery or they might be mushy. The peas and black eyed peas are pretty good.

Pretty much everything else is either canned or dehydrated.

Amazing!!!! I just bought a 5 cf freezer!! Any and all advice on how to freeze fruits and veggies are welcome!!

 

[digitS']

I'm fairly sure that @seedcorn was asking for pickled pepper recipes in the What did You do in the Garden thread since he had already begun making sauerkraut. It did, however, make me that of this. I made this about a half dozen years ago. I liked it but it doesn't really seem like sauerkraut. That's okay.

It's from the Joy of Pickling, if'n I remember the name right and it was supposed to make 2 quarts but I ended up with less. It's for Freezer/Refrigerator Sauerkraut

2 pounds shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded green bell peppers
1 cup shredded onions
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tbsp pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

• In a bowl, toss the shredded vegetables with the salt and let stand 2 to 3 hours.
• Drain the vegetables, pressing out excess liquid.
• Combine the sugar and vinegar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the syrup over the drained vegetables and mix well.
• Pack the vegetables and syrup in freezer containers and freeze.
• Thaw for about 8 hours in refrigerator before serving.

I have both early and late cabbage. Hopefully, we can use up the early but, you know, cabbage has a tendency to need to be harvested all at once before it splits. Maybe, I'll have several days after harvesting the Late Dutch to make some of this, pickled and frozen cabbage "salad."

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

cabbage stores very well as saurkraut...

 

[digitS']

I like sauerkraut but, as with pickles, it doesn't like me very well. Stomach upset .

There was also that wasteful, crock-full failure, years ago. Admittedly, it was a first try. Nevertheless, there isn't much reason for me to make actual sauerkraut given my habits of diet.

We do eat cabbage and appreciate that it can be refrigerated fresh for quite awhile. Many years ago, I tried basement storage - that sure was an interesting introduction to cabbage as a biennial.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

I like sauerkraut but, as with pickles, it doesn't like me very well. Stomach upset .

There was also that wasteful, crock-full failure, years ago. Admittedly, it was a first try. Nevertheless, there isn't much reason for me to make actual sauerkraut given my habits of diet.

We do eat cabbage and appreciate that it can be refrigerated fresh for quite awhile. Many years ago, I tried basement storage - that sure was an interesting introduction to cabbage as a biennial.

Steve

i love raw and cooked cabbage too, cole slaw is always something i will eat if it is not too sweet or salty.

 

[digitS']

Okay - SALTY:

This freezer "sauerkraut" recipe calls for pickling salt. It's been about 4 years since I made it before. I don't remember using a pickling salt. Do you suppose that sea salt will be okay????

It won't be such a small commitment with only a 2# recipe this time. I have 3 green cabbages and a red in the fridge and more on the way. I now have the sweet peppers that go in it. Have some nice big carrots and Walla Walla onions.

I didn't freeze the 2# that I made before (just kept it in the fridge) but I don't want pounds and pounds in the freezer that I've done wrong! Do i HAVE to go to the store before making this?

Steve
as you can see, it's really a cabbage salad:

Ziedrich, "The Joy of Pickling"

freezer "Sauerkraut"
Makes 2 quarts
Freezer/Refrigerator recipe

2 pounds shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded green bell peppers
1 cup shredded onions
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tbsp pickling salt
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

In a bowl, toss the shredded vegetables with the salt and let stand 2 to 3 hours.
Drain the vegetables, pressing out excess liquid. Combine the sugar and vinegar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the syrup over the drained vegetables and mix well.
Pack the vegetables and syrup in freezer containers and freeze.
Thaw for about 8 hours in refrigerator before serving.