Freezing vegetables

[BobT]

Well, I'm experimenting this year. I've heard of this before so I thought I'd give it a try.

Every year I have blanched and frozen our green beans, carrots, etc. And every time we use them I am not satisfied with the texture. For some reason they are not firm like I want them to be. I blanch them for 3 minutes using a timer. I've tried reducing time and increasing time with no better results. Is there something else I may be doing wrong?

This year I decided to try a different approach. I'm freezing them raw in vacuum packs. When we use them I will try not thawing them first but keeping them frozen until I drop them into boiling water. We'll see what happens.

I may report back at some point with the results.

[Moose]

We raw freeze all our vegetables from beans to tomatoes. The beans are great microwaved in a small amount of water in a corning ware dish with the cover on. We usually go 4-5 minutes then let them steam with the cover on until time to eat then drain water add butter or margarine and a little garlic powder;)

[BobT]

Thanks. I figure the vacuum pack will help them freeze quicker and not get mushy in the process and cooking them from frozen should have a similar effect. Additionally, if this works, we won't be losing as much food value or flavor in the process.

Like you signature.

[Leaky]

I was talking to the guy at one of the corn stands and he said that you can just throw husks of corn in the freezer and use as you need. I usually soak and grill my corn in the husk, but he said after freezing and thawing, the soaking won't be neccessary. Anyone freeze corn like this?

[Moose]

we also freeze peppers, celery,onions and garlic if it starts to get old. The best is whole ginger, when you need ginger just shave off what you need with a knife and throw it in the dish. The one thing I've found if that if you use frozen veggie in a recipe is that it adds liquid. If I don't want additional liquid I just sweat them separately and evaporate the extra liquid then add them to the dish.

[BobT]

Never heard of freezing corn in the husk.

[hockeybc69]

We freeze oodles of tomatoes, peppers and onions. Mainly using for homemade salsa.

I am never satisfied with the taste of the veggies after being frozen to use them for sides on meals. I would rather buy fresh from a store if I need a side with the main course.