The Beginner's Guide to Preserving Food at Home - Janet Chadwick [16]
Make sure your work area and all equipment are spotlessly clean. Assemble your equipment and set your tools where they will be most useful. You will need a scrub brush, a colander, strainers, paring and chopping knives, a cutting board, a food processor (optional), measuring cups, tongs, towels, waxed-paper-lined cookie sheets, freezer containers or bags, freezer tape and an indelible marking pen, a large microwave-safe container with lid or microwave-safe plastic wrap, potholders, and a timer.
Select young, fresh vegetables that are just table-ready or slightly immature. Wash, and drain on absorbent towels.
Prepare the vegetables as desired: slice, dice, chop, julienne, or leave whole.
Clean the sink and fill with water and ice packs (see page 31) or cubes or chunks of ice.
Blanch the vegetables. Work in 3- to 4-cup batches (1 to 1½ pounds). Arrange the vegetables in a large, shallow microwave-safe container and add ¼ to ½ cup water. Cover with plastic wrap. Set the timer and blanch. Specific amounts for vegetables and water, as well as specific times, can be found for each vegetable on the chart found on page 221.
Cool the vegetables quickly in ice water. Cooling time is approximately the same as blanching.
Drain the vegetables thoroughly, removing as much water as possible by lifting them from the ice water onto towels and patting them dry with another towel. While one batch of vegetables is chilling, pack any previously drained batches, and blanch another.
Place cooled, drained vegetables on waxed-paper-lined cookie sheets and freeze until solid. Then package loosely in plastic bags that have been labeled with the date and product. Be sure to remove as much air as possible. You can package these vegetables in large bags and remove just the number of servings needed at a time. You can also package the vegetables in freezer containers.
Freeze vegetables in a single layer in the coldest part of the freezer. Clean up when all vegetables are in the freezer. Wipe ice packs dry and return to the freezer.
STANDARD FREEZING METHOD: Ten Steps
Pick up any book on food preservation written before the days of microwaves or boilable bags, or written without concern for saving time, and you will find this method. It works just fine and you get a very acceptable end product, but you will spend more time with it.
Make sure your work area and all equipment are spotlessly clean. Assemble your equipment and set your tools where they will be most useful. You will need a scrub brush, a colander, strainers, paring and chopping knives, a cutting board, food processing equipment (optional), measuring cups, tongs, towels, waxed-paper-lined cookie sheets, freezer containers or bags, freezer tape and an indelible marking pen, a blanching kettle half-filled with water, potholders, and a timer.
Select young fresh vegetables that are just table-ready or slightly immature. Wash and drain on towels.
Begin heating water in the blanching kettle.
Prepare the vegetables as desired: slice, dice, chop, julienne, or leave whole.
Clean the sink and fill with water and ice packs (see page 31) or cubes or chunks of ice.
Blanch the vegetables. If you have a boiling-water blancher, immerse the vegetables in boiling water, 1 pound at a time. Start counting as soon as the water re turns to a boil, and blanch as long as the chart on page 220 indicates. If it takes longer than 2 minutes for the water to return to a boil, blanch fewer vegetables at a time.
If you have a steam blancher, blanch 1 pound of vegetables (arranged in a single layer) at a time in a steam basket or blancher suspended over boiling water. Steam the vegetables for half again as long as you would if you were blanching