Putting Food By - Janet Greene [113]
Pack. Blanched, leave ½ inch of headroom. Raw, leave no headroom. Seal; freeze.
Peppers, Hot
Wash and stem.
Blanch. No.
Pack. Leave no headroom. Seal; freeze.
Pimientos
Wash and dry crisp, thick-walled pimientos.
Roast. In a 400 F/205 C oven—for 3 to 4 minutes. Rinse and rub off charred skins in cold water. Drain.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Pumpkin
Pumpkin makes fine pies and breads, but is seldom used as a table vegetable. Why not can it cubed instead?
Wash whole pumpkin; cut or break in pieces. Remove seeds. Do not peel.
Precook. Until soft—in boiling water, steam, a pressure cooker, or in the oven. Scrape pulp from rind; mash through a sieve or purée in a food processor. Cool immediately.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Rutabagas
Cut off tops of young, medium-size rutabagas; wash and peel. Cut in cubes to freeze merely blanched, or in large chunks to cook and mash before freezing.
Blanch (for cubes). In boiling water—for 2 minutes. Cool immediately; drain.
Cook (chunks to mash). In boiling water until tender. Drain; mash, sieve, or process. Cool immediately.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom for either cubed or mashed. Seal; freeze.
Soybeans
To serve as a vegetable, wash firm, well-filled, bright-green pods (shell after blanching).
Blanch. In boiling water—5 minutes. Cool quickly. Squeeze beans out of pods.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Squash, Summer (and Zucchini)
Only young squash with small seeds and tender rinds are suitable for freezing.
Cut off blossom and stem ends; wash and cut in slices.
Blanch. In boiling water—for 3 minutes. Cool immediately in ice water; drain well.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Squash, Winter
Root-cellar mature squash with hard rinds. Treat it like Pumpkin if you do freeze it, though.
Sweet Potatoes (and Yams)
Use medium to large sweet potatoes that have air-dried (to cure) after being dug. Pack whole, sliced, or mashed.
Sort for size; wash. Leave skins on.
Precook. Cook, until almost tender, in water, steam, a pressure cooker or an oven. Cool at room temperature. Peel; cut in halves or slices, or mash.
Prevent darkening. Dip whole peeled sweet potatoes or slices for 5 seconds in a solution of 1 tablespoon citric acid or ½ cup lemon juice to 1 quart of water. For mashed sweet potatoes mix 2 tablespoons orange or lemon juice with each quart.
Pack. Leave ½ inch of headroom. Seal; freeze.
Pack variations. Roll slices in sugar. Or cover whole or sliced with a cold 50 percent Syrup. In either case, leave appropriate headroom. Seal; freeze.
Tomatoes
Aside from taking up a good deal of freezer space, a frozen whole tomato has limited appeal: its tender flesh is ruptured by ice crystals, and you have a deflated mush when you defrost it.
Ruth Hertzberg has a fine sauce to freeze—see Chapter 17.
STEWED TOMATOES
Remove stem ends and cores of ripe tomatoes; peel and quarter.
Cook. In a covered enameled or stainless steel kettle, cook gently in their own juice until tender—10 to 20 minutes. Set the kettle bodily in cold water to cool the contents.
Pack. Leave appropriate headroom. Seal; freeze.
TOMATO JUICE
Cut vine-ripened tomatoes in quarters or smaller. In an enameled or stainless steel kettle start to simmer them piecemeal as you go, in their own juice, for 5 to 10 minutes—or until tender with a good deal of liquid. Put through a sieve or food mill. Season with ½ teaspoon salt to each pint of juice, or 1 teaspoon to each quart if liked.
Pack. Leave appropriate headroom. Seal; freeze.
Turnips, White
Turnips are similar to rutabagas, but they mature more quickly. Freeze them in cubes or fully cooked and mashed. They also keep well in the root cellar.
Cubes: treat like Rutabagas. Mashed: treat like Winter Squash or Pumpkin.
16
Freezing Meats and Seafood
The same kitchen equipment, methods, and safeguards apply to meats and seafood that are to be frozen as applied to meats and seafood that were canned. The big difference between canning and freezing is that freezing