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 always 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 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 benefit from 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 might have talked about various hundred situations that I’m always in search of the simplest (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 like it – no blanching essential.
I normally get requested why blanching is essential 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 Should 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 eventually, you get meals that has misplaced its vibrant shade and should 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 can in one other case be misplaced all by the freezer over time.
The approach is normally quick nonetheless does add a further step that choices pretty a few work all by the kitchen.
After blanching, it is important to 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, it’s going to potential get messy and time-consuming, to not diploma out you need present of ice accessible.
A Bit About Ice Crystals
Irrespective of your methodology, frozen greens and fruits will always 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 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 further amount.
Anyone who has fastidiously checked out snowflakes moreover is conscious about that water freezes in six-sided crystals. Naturally, these common constructions take up further room than a liquid, which sorts to the type of its container.
Precisely, 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. However, 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 pay attention to that zucchini is about 90% water, it’s straightforward to know why it’s so mushy as quickly because of it has thawed.
Nonetheless Tracey, as shortly as I buy store-bought frozen greens, they’re in no way as mushy as these I freeze at dwelling.
Ah-ha, that’s a wonderful stage, and there’s a straightforward rationalization for that too.
The earlier water freezes, the smaller the subsequent ice crystals. As shortly as we freeze greens in our dwelling, the tactic can take various hours, main to bigger crystals. Whereas with commercially flash-frozen greens, it takes minutes. Liquid nitrogen is employed to freeze components nearly instantly.
All of that’s to say, it would not matter what methodology you take advantage of, when you freeze greens or fruits, they might always be softer when thawed.
With the science out of certainly one of many best strategies, let’s freeze some zucchini.
No-Blanch Frozen Zucchini
I discovered this trick further by likelihood than one factor. All by way 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 bigger 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 matter 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 could be out all by the yard rising a dozen further.
- Slice off the proper and bottom of the squash.
- Use a meals processor or mandolin slicer to grate your zucchini. To just be sure you a killer core put together, grate your zucchini with a subject grater. Since you labored off the entire zucchini bread you’re about to eat; you presumably can have a further 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 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 fairly tons 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 notably particular particular person freezer baggage in a single or two-cup components. This appears to be like like pretty a few plastic waste to me, to not diploma out pretty a few further work sucking the entire 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 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 always a beautiful suggestion to take advantage of a few methodology; that methodology, in case your freezer dies in each different case you lose a batch of zucchini relish to a foul seal, you don’t lose your total harvest for the 12 months. Strive Cheryl’s good piece for extra strategies to guard zucchini.
Freezing zucchini this improvement makes it straightforward to benefit from your bounty all 12 months prolonged, with out the time-consuming technique of blanching it first.
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