Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: Grubbypaws on July 15, 2013, 09:57
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Does anyone have a comprehensive list of what can go in the freezer and what cant? If not can we share our successes and failures.
So far I have successfully frozen
kale (lots of it :wacko:)
basil
coriander
parsley; flat and curly
mint
fennel
raspberries
I
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I only freeze soft fruits really plus chopped onions and peas.
I can not stand frozen veg, my mother put me off for life.
We eat as much as we can fresh or make soup to freeze etc.
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I freeze peas, French beans & runners, shelled beans, calabrese/brocolli, sweetcorn, brussels on the rare occasions I manage a crop ::) Onions with thick necks or rot on the bottom get chopped and frozen, as otherwise they wouldn't store.
Courgettes don't freeze as they are so they get made into dishes that will freeze.
Swede, leeks and kale get harvested and frozen if the weather looks as if it's turning bad enough to stop me getting there to harvest them.
Fruit-wise I freeze rhubarb, raspberries and a few strawberries for jam.
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I freeze pretty much everything I cant use immediately. Except lettuce. I believe you can freeze lettuce soup - but since I'm not keen, I havent bothered. But apples, beans, carrots, courgettes, Dauphinoise potatoes, every sort of herb .... you name it, either straight or in a cooked dish.
There used to be a good list on this site about what you can freeze, but I cant spot it. Mods??
You do need a reference guide, to know what you need to blanch, how long and what doesnt need it. (In my youth I couldnt be bothered to blanch a batch of caulis and learnt my lesson - they went black and yeuch very quickly).
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Plus chillies - either as they are or chopped and frozen with some water in an ice-cube tray - the latter kept us going all winter.
i also freeze black and red currants and gooseberries. Strawberries are mushed with a little sugar and maded into 'freezer jam'.
Am too new at this to have serious gluts, but I already have 2 litres of broad beans blanched and frozen. :)
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Madcat, how do you freeze your courgettes? I didn’t think that you could :unsure:
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I dont freeze them raw much, they go soggy. Mostly I turn them into courgette soup (there is a great recipe on here somewhere) which i serve for winter lunches with some brie melted into it ... or cheese and bread topping like french onion soup. Absolute fail safe. Cougette and chilli works well too.
If I get some bargain mince then I make and freeze a ragu sauce for pasta with lots of grated courgette in it. the courgette thickens the sauce and stretches the mince without being overpowering.
if pushed I grate, drain the excess liquid out in a sieve and pack in portions for sauce or soup. It only keeps a few months though.
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i freeze galic chopped in freezer bags when frozen i give them a gentle tap with a mallet then store in a plastic tub like loose granuleshandy when in a hurry
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Which of these recipes did you like so much Madcat?
http://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe/?s=courgette+soup
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I think that it was Pauline's courgette soup that I started with :unsure:, but I substituted brie for boursin ...... You know how it is with a recipe you use it a lot. It morphs .... :blush:
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I adore bousin and will definitely give that recipe a try.
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i freeze galic chopped in freezer bags when frozen i give them a gentle tap with a mallet then store in a plastic tub like loose granuleshandy when in a hurry
Excellent idea Peedee, thanks! :)
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I did a huge load of garlic in butter for the freezer then soon discovered that freezing kills most of the nutrients in garlic :( So, I won't freeze it anymore.