What vegetables don’t need blanching before freezing? Which vegetables can be frozen uncooked?
Food can be frozen to extend its shelf life, whether you stocked up on berries at the farmers market or your dinner plans changed and you now have extra vegetables.
Here’s how to freeze vegetables so you can eat fresh fruit and vegetables even in the dead of winter.
Table of Contents
What vegetables don’t need blanching before freezing?
Following our article on can you freeze vegetables (as well as the how’s), now we are moving to what vegetables don’t need blanching before freezing.
Unless they are onions or peppers, which can be frozen raw, vegetables should be blanched or fully cooked before freezing. Vegetables can be prevented from discoloring and becoming mushy by blanching them or plunging them into boiling water. On the other hand, raw fruit freezes without any issues.
All vegetables except celery, watercress, endive, lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, and radishes can be frozen. Since these foods contain a lot of water, thawing them makes them soggy and water-logged.
How to freeze vegetables for each type?
Cited from Taste Of Home, here’s how to freeze each kind of vegetable so you can quickly prepare wholesome meals:
Bell peppers: In contrast to other vegetables, bell peppers don’t need to be blanched before freezing. Simply take out the seeds, slice or dice them, and freeze flat in a freezer-safe bag.
Broccoli and cauliflowers: Trim any extra leaves and take out the stems. Prior to blanching for 3 minutes, slice the food into 1-1/2 inch pieces. After cooling in an ice bath, freeze the dish flat on a baking sheet.
Corn: You can freeze corn whole if you’d like, but cutting it off the ear is the simplest method. Choose the corn that is freshest, then cut off the ears and silk. The cob should be blanched for 4 minutes, then allowed to cool before the kernels are cut off with a sharp knife.
Peas should be removed from their pods and blanched for 1-1/2 minutes with green beans. Green beans, such as snap or wax beans, should be blanched for three minutes.
Potatoes: Even after being cooked, potatoes still contain a lot of water. Only waxy potatoes, such as Yukon golds or red potatoes, should be frozen. Potatoes should be chopped and parcooked for five minutes before freezing, either by boiling them or baking them.
Tips on blanching
Blanching is advantageous. Blanching most vegetables before freezing is beneficial. Produce should be washed and prepared for cooking as usual.
Trim any damaged or distorted stems and roots. Shell fresh beans and peas. Make any preparations you would typically make before cooking, such as peeling, deseeding, or coring the vegetable. Cut up larger vegetables into equal-sized pieces.
Prior to freezing, blanch greens and the majority of other vegetables for two to three minutes. One vegetable at a time should be blanched because different vegetables require different amounts of time.
You can use a helpful chart from the National Center for Food Preservation to work out how long to blanch various foods.
Conclusion
Now that you know what vegetables don’t need blanching before freezing, you can start picking your veggies to blanch and freeze for winter time!
Asides from pressure canning your meat or vacuum sealing your jerky (all which you can find on our website), freezing your vegetables is one of the best food preservation method you can do.
What are you waiting for? Let us know below your journey of freezing your vegetables, be it with or without blanching them first!
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