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Feature Articles: Cooking and Produce
Freeze Your Garden DelightsTammy Roberts, MS, RD, LD, |
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I answer a lot of questions about home canning of vegetables from the garden. There is another option for people who prefer not to use a canner. If you have the freezer and the space in it, freezing food is a great option. There are some important things to remember when freezing your garden bounty.
Always remember that freezing does not destroy harmful microorganisms. It only stops their growth while the food is frozen. For this reason, it is important to assure the freezer temperature is kept at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures above 0 degrees will allow some growth of microorganisms. This is why it is important to thaw your frozen foods in the refrigerator rather than on the kitchen counter. Counter thawing may allow the food to get warm enough for spoilage organisms to grow and multiply.
Fruits and vegetables contain enzymes that help them mature and ripen. This occurs even after the produce is picked and can continue in the freezer if not stopped. The easiest way to stop the enzymes in vegetables is by blanching them. Blanching is placing the vegetables in boiling water or steam for a short period of time and then dropped into ice water.
University of Missouri Extension has a guide sheet on freezing
vegetables. It specifies how long specific vegetables need
to be blanched. It is important to blanch food accurately
because over blanching can result in a less desirable end
product and under blanching can actually speed enzyme activity
making the end product worst than if it were never blanched at
all.
Enzyme activity in fruits is stopped by soaking in an ascorbic
acid solution or in a syrup.
The goal is to get the food to a frozen state as quickly as possible. Freezing food quickly produces a large number of ice crystals that are small. Freezing foods slowly produces large but fewer ice crystals. The large ice crystals are destructive to the cell walls of the plant and produce a less desirable end product.
When you are preparing to freeze a large amount of food, set the temperature at -10 degrees F about a day before you will be adding food to the freezer. This will help to assure a quick freeze with small ice crystals. When placing foods in the freezer, pack them loosely so cold air can circulate around the entire container and the food will freeze faster. You can make the containers more compact once they have frozen. You should only add an amount of food that can freeze within 24 hours. This is usually two to three pounds of food per cubic foot of free freezer space.
Home frozen vegetables should have good quality if stored in the freezer for up to ten months. You wouldn’t want them there any longer than that. You will need the space for next year’s garden.
Last update: Tuesday, September 26, 2006
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