Broccoli is a healthy and tasty vegetable that you can have on hand every day at any time of the year. Using the possibilities of home freezing, you can save the product for the winter. This will be discussed in the article.

Freezing method

The presence of a freezer in the household allows you to save food for several months. Is it possible to get a quality taste after such storage? Broccoli refers to those vegetables that tolerate freezing, often part of industrially produced frozen mixtures.

Advantages and disadvantages

For freezing, you need a special compartment in the refrigerator or a separate freezer. Modern devices “know” how to freeze a product most effectively. They have the function of quick freezing to maximize the preservation of the taste and content of nutrients in food.

• The benefits of freezing are:
• speed of product procurement;
• preservation of vitamins;
• lack of additional costs.

• The disadvantages of this method of storage include:
• dependence on the availability of electricity;
• Dependence on the technical condition of the freezer.

Selection and preparation of broccoli

When frozen, the quality of the final product depends to the greatest extent on how it was chosen and whether the raw materials were prepared correctly. For storage, choose the best examples of vegetables.

Important! The cabbage will retain the greatest nutritional value during freezing immediately after harvesting, for 2-3 days.

Signs of a good head of broccoli:

• elastic forks of medium size (not more than 15-17 cm);
• bright and uniform dark green color;
• lack of yellow and white spots, traces of darkening;
• integrity and absence of signs of damage by pests.

Inflorescences must be pre-soaked for half an hour in a liter of water, after dissolving in it pre-1 tablespoon of salt. This treatment reveals the presence of caterpillars and insect larvae that float to the surface of the water, and can then be easily washed away.

After this, the cabbage should be rinsed under running water to remove salt. Broccoli are divided into inflorescences so that the product takes up less space in the freezer, and it is convenient to get it in portions. You should also remove the leaves. To prepare the vegetable mixture, cutting into smaller pieces is suitable.

Did you know? The yellow color of broccoli buds indicates an overripe cabbage. Such inflorescences are unsuitable for eating.

Why and how to blanch properly?

Blanching is a preliminary quick treatment with boiling water or steam, which allows you to preserve the color and speed up the subsequent preparation of broccoli. In this case, cabbage retains nutrients and does not darken.

In the pan

A simple blanching method is as follows:

1. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Lower broccoli inflorescences in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.
3. Take out the cabbage and immediately lower it into ice water for quick cooling.

In the presence of a wide pot and sieve, you can put the inflorescences on a sieve and lower in a boiling water and cold water alternately immediately a large amount of product.

In a double boiler

A double boiler allows blanching with less effort and preserving more nutrients. Steam treatment should be carried out within 6-7 minutes. Blanched in any way cabbage is then dried on a towel or in a sieve.

Features of freezing cabbage at home

To freeze broccoli, you can use a plastic bag or a special plastic container whose material can withstand the effects of low temperatures. In order not to get confused in the shelf life on each package, the date of freezing should be indicated. Prepared dry inflorescences of broccoli are placed in containers or bags and sent to the freezer using the “quick freeze” function (if available).

Important! It is not recommended to re-freeze food products, as this significantly reduces their taste and usefulness.

How long is stored?

Frozen broccoli can be stored for 6 to 8 months. The main condition for long-term storage is a constant freezer temperature of over –18 ° C.

Do I need to defrost before cooking?

Before cooking broccoli does not need defrosting. Inflorescences are immediately dipped in boiling water for cooking, fried or baked.

Cooking methods

Broccoli is an integral part of many dishes, and can also be used as a separate side dish.

With useful inflorescences you can cook:

• vegetable or chicken soup, mashed soups;
• casserole or stew;
• pasta sauce;
• omelet with vegetables;
• pie or pizza.

The taste of broccoli goes well with butter, cream and sour cream, garlic and lemon.

Useful Tips

Using some tricks, you can use the space of the freezer more productively and achieve better quality of the frozen product:

• To minimize the space occupied by the product, you can create a vacuum in a bag made of dense polyethylene with a latch. This is true for refrigerators with small freezers. In the corner of the latch you need to insert a tube and draw air out of the bag, and then carefully close it;
• lemon juice added during blanching will make broccoli color more saturated and bright;
• to quickly dry the inflorescences, you can blow them with a hairdryer in the "cold air" mode;
• for vegetable soups, you can freeze mixtures of chopped vegetables and herbs for one preparation.

Did you know? The American Clarence Birdsay is considered to be the inventor of modern food freezing, who discovered the advantages of quickly cooling fish at –40 ° C in the 1920s.

Using the capabilities of modern household appliances, you can freeze vegetables at home while preserving the taste and nutritional properties of the product. Subject to the technology and the proper selection of raw materials, broccoli can be stored for a long time and be part of many dishes of everyday and festive cuisine.