Ah, the poor zucchini.
This humble cucurbit ends up being the joke of many a gardener each summer season season season. With comparisons to baseball bats and billy golf gear, its recognition for producing monster squash is well-known. Then there’s its propensity for producing common as shortly as a result of it’s going to get going, leaving us with the annual question of what the heck to do with all that zucchini.
There’s on a regular basis zucchini bread or zucchini boats laced with cheese and filled with sausage. Whereas these are good, you presumably can solely eat so many zucchini boats each week. Notably everytime you acknowledge everytime you’re consuming your little fleet, your plant is out all by the yard rising you a whole navy.
Why not freeze it?
In any case, you presumably can freeze all varieties of components out of your yard – onions, potatoes, even butternut squash.
Only some of you may be smirking. I keep in mind the first time I froze summer season season season squash. I dutifully cubed it, blanched it and froze it. Then I acquired to have the benefit of thawed zucchini mush with my dinner. Mmmm. It was further like soup than the tender squash we ate all summer season season season.
Since that first failed attempt, I’ve stumbled onto my favorite approach to freeze zucchini, and it doesn’t require you to blanch it first.
I may have talked about numerous hundred circumstances that I’m on a regular basis looking for the perfect (i/e laziest) methodology of doing components in my kitchen. And that’s it.
I grate my zucchini and flash freeze it sooner than popping it in a freezer bag.
This leaves me with completely portioned, easy-to-grab zucchini every time I need it – no blanching essential.
I normally get requested why blanching is important and why frozen veggies are so mushy when thawed. So, let’s reply these questions sooner than we bounce into the small print of freezing zukes.
Why Do We Must Blanch Greens Previous to Freezing Them Anyway?
Enzymes, that’s why.
Blanching greens slows or stops the enzymes answerable for meals spoilage. Throughout the event you occur to don’t blanch greens sooner than freezing them, these enzymes will nonetheless be at work (albeit slowly), and ultimately, you get meals that has misplaced its vibrant shade and may even develop spots. Unblanched veggies can have weird off-flavors, too, leaving you with meals that’s wholly unappealing.
Dietary dietary nutritional vitamins are misplaced or broken down by these related enzymes. Blanching is a method to guard the dietary dietary nutritional vitamins in our meals. A few minutes in boiling water can lock in dietary dietary nutritional vitamins which can in one other case be misplaced all by the freezer over time.
The approach is normally quick nonetheless does add an extra step that choices pretty only a few work all by the kitchen.
After blanching, you might stop the cooking course of; to do this, it is a should to dunk your blanched veggies in an ice tub. After just some batches, this may increasingly likely get messy and time-consuming, to not diploma out you desire a excellent present of ice accessible.
A Bit About Ice Crystals
Irrespective of your methodology, frozen greens and fruits will on a regular basis be softer (sometimes even mushy) than everytime you froze them. This softer texture comes from ice crystals that sort when the greens are frozen.
Everyone seems to be aware of that water expands due to it freezes. It is due to the hydrogen bonds in water broaden as they freeze, creating further amount.
Anyone who has fastidiously checked out snowflakes moreover is conscious of that water freezes in six-sided crystals. Naturally, these common constructions take up further room than a liquid, which sorts to the sort of its container.
Appropriately, what happens when that container is, say, a plant cell?
As water freezes inside greens, the microscopic ice crystals pierce the cell partitions of the plant. Whereas your zucchini is frozen, all is appropriately; it stays a rock-hard piece of cubed zucchini. Nonetheless, everytime you thaw that little zucchini cube and the ice crystals develop to be liquid as shortly as additional, the cell partitions lose their structural integrity.
You try standing up straight after being riddled with holes made by icicles.
For individuals who be aware of that zucchini is about 90% water, it’s simple to know why it’s so mushy as shortly on account of it has thawed.
Nevertheless Tracey, as shortly as I buy store-bought frozen greens, they’re definitely not as mushy as these I freeze at dwelling.
Ah-ha, that’s a superb stage, and there’s a simple rationalization for that too.
The faster water freezes, the smaller the subsequent ice crystals. As shortly as we freeze greens in our dwelling, the tactic can take numerous hours, predominant to greater crystals. Whereas with commercially flash-frozen greens, it takes minutes. Liquid nitrogen is employed to freeze components just about instantly.
All of that’s to say, it would not matter what methodology you benefit from, everytime you freeze greens or fruits, they may on a regular basis be softer when thawed.
With the science out of one in all many best strategies, let’s freeze some zucchini.
No-Blanch Frozen Zucchini
I discovered this trick further by chance than one factor. All by the use of my first few makes an try at freezing batches of unblanched zucchini, I seen when it thawed; the shredded zucchini held up pretty appropriately as in distinction with the slices and cubes I made.
I’m completely blissful to forego slices of tender summer season season season squash all by the winter for zucchini greater suited to bread, pasta, soups, stir-fries and fritters. So, I’ve been freezing my zucchini this sample ever since.
Units:
- Meals processor, mandolin slicer or matter grater
- Colander
- Baking sheet
- Parchment Paper
- One cup measuring cup
- Freezer bag
The Course of:
- Accumulate up your zucchini. Work shortly; everytime you’re freezing it, your plant may be out all by the yard rising a dozen further.
- Slice off the best and bottom of the squash.
- Use a meals processor or mandolin slicer to grate your zucchini. To just remember to a killer core put together, grate your zucchini with a subject grater. Since you labored off your complete zucchini bread you’re about to eat; you presumably can have an extra slice.
- Place the grated zucchini all by the colander all by the sink. As you add further, gently press it down and squeeze it barely bit to remove further water.
- Using the one-cup measuring cup, pack it with shredded zucchini. Now plop it out on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Repeat until the sheet is roofed with zucchini hay stacks and put all of it by the freezer.
- As shortly as your zucchini stacks are frozen common, take them off the baking sheet and put them collectively in a single freezer bag.
- Use a straw to suck out as fairly a lot air as attainable from the bag sooner than sealing it and popping it as quickly as additional all by the freezer.
Voila! Now you might want pre-measured one-cup components of zucchini everytime you need it.
I’ve seen just some tutorials the place the grated zucchini is frozen significantly particular particular person freezer baggage in a single or two-cup components. This appears to be like like pretty only a few plastic waste to me, to not diploma out pretty only a few further work sucking your complete air out of each bag and sealing it up.
Nope, not on this kitchen. We’re simple, subsequently freezing the zucchini first in pre-measured components.
Everytime you need zucchini, you presumably can seize as many one-cup chunks as you need. And for components like pasta and stir-fries, you don’t should thaw it first; merely toss the frozen zucchini in everytime you’re cooking.
When preserving meals, it’s on a regular basis an outstanding suggestion to benefit from only a few methodology; that methodology, in case your freezer dies in another case you lose a batch of zucchini relish to a foul seal, you don’t lose your complete harvest for the 12 months. Strive Cheryl’s good piece for extra strategies to guard zucchini.
Freezing zucchini this sample makes it simple to have the benefit of your bounty all 12 months prolonged, with out the time-consuming technique of blanching it first.
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