Putting Food By - Janet Greene [112]
Blanch. In boiling water, and shake the pot to keep the leaves separated— spinach, New Zealand spinach, kale, chard, mustard and beet and turnip greens: all for 2 minutes; collards for 3 minutes. (Steam-blanching causes leaf vegetables to mat, and thus prevents correct blanching.) Cool immediately; drain.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Greens, Wild
Collect and clean fiddleheads (ostrich fern).
Blanch. For 2 minutes. Cool and drain.
Dandelions: if you like slightly bitter taste, merely blanch the very tenderest leaves for 1½ minutes; otherwise boil in two or more waters. Cool and drain. Milkweed: boil in several waters. Cool and drain.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Jerusalem Artichokes
Treat like Kohlrabi or small Turnips.
Kohlrabi
Cut off the tops and roots of small to medium kohlrabi. Wash, peel; dice in ½-inch cubes.
Blanch. In boiling water—cubes 2 minutes. Cool immediately and drain.
Pack. Cubes in containers, leaving ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Mushrooms
Wash carefully in cold water. Cut off ends of stems. Leave stems on fancy small buttons if you like; if mushrooms are larger than 1 inch across the caps, slice or quarter them. If serving cold (in salads, etc.), blanch in steam; if serving hot (as garnish for meats, or in combination dishes), pre-cook.
Blanch. In one layer, over steam—whole for 5 minutes, quarters or small caps for 3½ minutes, slices for 3 minutes. (This also prevents darkening; see To Prevent Darkening early in Chapter 14.) Cool immediately; drain.
Precooking. In table fat—sauté in a skillet until nearly done. Air-cool, or set the skillet in cold water (you’ll freeze them in the good buttery juice from the pan).
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Okra (Gumbo)
Use in soups and stews.
Wash. Cut off stems, being careful not to open the seed cells.
Blanch. In boiling water—small pods 3 minutes, large pods 4 minutes. Cool immediately; drain. Leave whole, or cut in crosswise slices.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Parsnips
Really best left in the ground over winter for the first fresh treat of spring—freezing is only a second choice. Treat like Carrots.
Peas, Black-eyed (Cowpeas, Black-eyed Beans)
Shell; save only the tender peas (see sorting trick, below).
Blanch. In boiling water—for 2 minutes. Cool immediately, drain well.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Peas, Green
Shell; use only sweet, tender peas (see sorting trick, below). For Edible-pod/ Snow types, see Green Peas, in Chapter 9; continue as below for freezing.
Blanch. In boiling water—for 1½ minutes. Cool immediately; drain.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Sorting trick for peas: To size peas as a guide to their tenderness or maturity, make a solution in the proportions of 1½ cups regular canning-pickling salt to 1 gallon of cool water, and put the peas in it: floating peas are likely to be the very tender ones, while peas that sink are usually older or more mature. Lift out the floaters in a strainer, rinse well in cold water to get rid of the salt; collect the sinkers by pouring off the salt solution, and rinse in cold water.
Ohio State’s Co-operative Extension Service recommends that shelled peas be washed in shallow pans before sorting, by the way, because unformed peas and bits of skin will float, and maybe skimmed off and discarded.
Peppers, Green (Bell, Sweet)
Here is a vegetable that does not require blanching: the brief precooking described below is designed to make them more limp, so you can pack more peppers in the container—and it’s for large-ish pieces you plan to use in cooked dishes, at that.
If you plan to serve them raw (for instance in thin rings as a garnish, or diced in a salad), don’t bother to blanch.
Wash; cut out stems, remove seeds and white “partitioning” material. Cut in halves, or cut in slices, strips, rings, or dice (depending on future use).
If blanched. In boiling water—halves for 3 minutes, slices for 2 minutes. Cool immediately; drain.