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 reputation for producing monster squash is well-known. Then there’s its propensity for producing common as quickly 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 via the yard rising you a complete navy.
Why not freeze it?
In any case, you presumably can freeze all kinds of components out of your yard – onions, potatoes, even butternut squash.
Just a few of you are 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 get pleasure from thawed zucchini mush with my dinner. Mmmm. It was extra like soup than the tender squash we ate all summer season season season.
Since that first failed attempt, I’ve stumbled onto my favorite method to freeze zucchini, and it doesn’t require you to blanch it first.
I might have talked about numerous hundred situations that I’m on a regular basis searching for the easiest (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 would love it – no blanching vital.
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 Sooner than Freezing Them Anyway?
Enzymes, that’s why.
Blanching greens slows or stops the enzymes answerable for meals spoilage. Inside the event you occur to don’t blanch greens sooner than freezing them, these enzymes will nonetheless be at work (albeit slowly), and finally, you get meals that has misplaced its vibrant shade and would possibly 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 technique to guard the dietary dietary nutritional vitamins in our meals. A few minutes in boiling water can lock in dietary dietary nutritional vitamins which is able to in one other case be misplaced all via the freezer over time.
The method is normally quick nonetheless does add a further step that choices pretty a few work all via the kitchen.
After blanching, it’s advisable to stop the cooking course of; to do this, it is a should to dunk your blanched veggies in an ice tub. After only a few batches, this may increasingly likely get messy and time-consuming, to not diploma out you need an excellent present of ice on the market.
A Bit About Ice Crystals
Irrespective of your methodology, frozen greens and fruits will on a regular basis be softer (usually even mushy) than when you froze them. This softer texture comes from ice crystals that sort when the greens are frozen.
Everyone seems to be acutely aware of that water expands on account of it freezes. It is on account of the hydrogen bonds in water broaden as they freeze, creating extra 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 extra room than a liquid, which varieties to the type 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.
Must you pay attention to that zucchini is about 90% water, it’s straightforward to know why it’s so mushy as quickly on account of it has thawed.
Nonetheless Tracey, as shortly as I buy store-bought frozen greens, they’re not at all as mushy as these I freeze at dwelling.
Ah-ha, that’s an impressive stage, and there’s a straightforward rationalization for that too.
The faster water freezes, the smaller the following ice crystals. As shortly as we freeze greens in our dwelling, the tactic can take numerous hours, elementary to increased crystals. Whereas with commercially flash-frozen greens, it takes minutes. Liquid nitrogen is employed to freeze components almost instantly.
All of that’s to say, it does not matter what methodology you profit from, when you freeze greens or fruits, they may on a regular basis be softer when thawed.
With the science out of considered one of many best strategies, let’s freeze some zucchini.
No-Blanch Frozen Zucchini
I discovered this trick extra by likelihood than one factor. All by means 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 via the winter for zucchini increased suited to bread, pasta, soups, stir-fries and fritters. So, I’ve been freezing my zucchini this improvement ever since.
Gadgets:
- Meals processor, mandolin slicer or subject grater
- Colander
- Baking sheet
- Parchment Paper
- One cup measuring cup
- Freezer bag
The Course of:
- Acquire up your zucchini. Work quickly; everytime you’re freezing it, your plant might probably be out all via the yard rising a dozen extra.
- Slice off the right 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 all of the zucchini bread you’re about to eat; you presumably can have a further slice.
- Place the grated zucchini all via the colander all via the sink. As you add extra, gently press it down and squeeze it barely bit to remove extra 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 via the freezer.
- As quickly 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 considerably hundreds air as attainable from the bag sooner than sealing it and popping it as quickly as additional all via the freezer.
Voila! Now you would possibly want pre-measured one-cup elements of zucchini everytime you need it.
I’ve seen only a few tutorials the place the grated zucchini is frozen significantly particular explicit individual freezer baggage in a single or two-cup elements. This appears to be like like pretty a few plastic waste to me, to not diploma out pretty a few extra work sucking all of the air out of each bag and sealing it up.
Nope, not on this kitchen. We’re straightforward, subsequently freezing the zucchini first in pre-measured elements.
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 a beautiful suggestion to profit from 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. Attempt Cheryl’s good piece for added strategies to guard zucchini.
Freezing zucchini this improvement makes it straightforward to get pleasure from your bounty all 12 months prolonged, with out the time-consuming technique of blanching it first.
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