Freezing cauliflower correctly
Freezing cauliflower at home is not difficult, the main thing is to know what points to pay attention to when preparing a vegetable for the procedure and defrosting it.
Freezing cauliflower correctly
Choosing heads for freezing
Before freezing the heads of cauliflower for the winter, the heads are carefully selected. Take heads of cabbage with medium-sized inflorescences. It is advisable to freeze young cauliflower, which tastes more delicate. Pay attention to the appearance of the vegetable. It must not be damaged by pests or diseases. If there are dark spots on the inflorescences, during cultivation the culture was exposed to direct sunlight. It is advisable to choose specimens that do not have burns.
Do not freeze loose heads of cabbage or use inflorescences that have already begun to wilt. It is better to freeze cauliflower, which is small to medium in size.
There are hybrids designed to be frozen for the winter. They should be used for winter harvesting.
Training
Before freezing cauliflower at home, you need to prepare the cabbage in a certain way. Preparing heads of cabbage for freezing consists of 2 stages:
- cutting a head of cabbage into inflorescences;
- blanching.
Let us dwell on each stage in more detail.
Cutting into inflorescences
Selected heads of cabbage are washed under running water. This procedure is carried out carefully so as not to cause mechanical damage to the inflorescences. For better cleansing of the inflorescences, warm water is collected in a deep bowl and a vegetable is immersed in it for a while. After 2-10 minutes, take out the head of cabbage and leave it to dry.
Next, remove the leaf plates and divide the head of cabbage into inflorescences. It is best to cut the vegetable into inflorescences that will be identical in size. Pre-remove all damaged and brown colored parts of the vegetable crop, if any. Before freezing cauliflower for the winter at home, they are determined with the size of the inflorescences.
The head of cabbage must be divided into inflorescences of the desired size
After this, the inflorescences are soaked in brine. To prepare 1 liter of brine, take 4 tsp. table salt. Soaking in brine is necessary so that all insects that like to hide in dense inflorescences come out. The prepared vegetable is soaked for 30 minutes. After this time, the vegetable is washed in warm water.
It is possible to freeze cauliflower inflorescences already at this stage, but experts recommend preliminary heat treatment.
Blanching
Before freezing the cauliflower in the freezer, blanch it. Water is collected in any large saucepan or metal bowl and put on fire. As soon as the water boils, inflorescences prepared for freezing are lowered into it. Blanch a fresh vegetable for 3 minutes. During this time, a large container of ice is prepared, into which a small amount of water is poured. After 3 min.the inflorescences are removed from the boiling water and transferred to an ice bath to cool. After 3-4 minutes. the water is drained and the ice taken out. Once the buds are dry, you can freeze the cauliflower.
Freezing process
You can freeze cauliflower for the winter in freezer bags or plastic containers. If cauliflower is frozen for the winter in bags, make sure that there is a minimum amount of air in them. The more air in the container, the shorter the shelf life of the vegetable in the freezer. The best way to get rid of excess air is with a cocktail straw. If you need to freeze a lot of cabbage for the winter, it is better to use special vacuum sealers.
Other recommendations
In addition to how to properly cook and freeze cauliflower, it is important to know how to store and defrost the vegetable.
- Cauliflower can be stored frozen for a maximum of 9 months. Freezing prepared cauliflower must be accompanied by container labeling. The date of freezing is indicated on each package.
- Defrost the vegetable culture for no more than 1.5 minutes. This applies to both heating in a microwave oven and heating in a double boiler. If you heat the vegetable for a longer time, it will become loose and lose some of its taste.
- If you freeze wet cauliflower, ice crystals form on the buds. After defrosting, this vegetable will not be crispy and dense.
Summarizing
To freeze cabbage, it is important to adhere to a number of rules: choose the right head of cabbage for planting, divide into inflorescences, and blanch.