Ah, the poor zucchini.
This humble cucurbit finally ends up being the joke of many a gardener every summer season season season. With comparisons to baseball bats and billy golf gear, its repute for producing monster squash is well-known. Then there’s its propensity for producing regular as shortly because it’ll get going, leaving us with the annual query of what the heck to do with all that zucchini.
There’s at all times zucchini bread or zucchini boats laced with cheese and full of sausage. Whereas these are good, you presumably can solely eat so many zucchini boats every week. Notably everytime you acknowledge everytime you’re consuming your little fleet, your plant is out all through the yard rising you an entire navy.
Why not freeze it?
In any case, you presumably can freeze all types of factors out of your yard – onions, potatoes, even butternut squash.
Just some of you might be smirking. I keep in mind the primary 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 additional like soup than the tender squash we ate all summer season season season.
Since that first failed try, I’ve stumbled onto my favourite technique to freeze zucchini, and it doesn’t require you to blanch it first.
I could have talked about quite a lot of hundred instances that I’m at all times looking for one of the best (i/e laziest) methodology of doing factors in my kitchen. And that is it.
I grate my zucchini and flash freeze it before popping it in a freezer bag.
This leaves me with totally portioned, easy-to-grab zucchini each time I would like it – no blanching important.
I usually get requested why blanching is critical and why frozen veggies are so mushy when thawed. So, let’s reply these questions before we bounce into the small print of freezing zukes.
Why Do We Ought to Blanch Greens Earlier than Freezing Them Anyway?
Enzymes, that’s why.
Blanching greens slows or stops the enzymes answerable for meals spoilage. Within the occasion you happen to don’t blanch greens before freezing them, these enzymes will nonetheless be at work (albeit slowly), and eventually, you get meals that has misplaced its vibrant shade and might even develop spots. Unblanched veggies can have bizarre off-flavors, too, leaving you with meals that’s wholly unappealing.
Dietary nutritional vitamins are misplaced or damaged down by these associated enzymes. Blanching is a method to protect the dietary nutritional vitamins in our meals. A couple of minutes in boiling water can lock in dietary nutritional vitamins that will in another case be misplaced all through the freezer over time.
The technique is commonly fast however does add an additional step that options fairly a number of work all through the kitchen.
After blanching, you want to cease the cooking course of; to do this, it’s a ought to to dunk your blanched veggies in an ice tub. After just a few batches, this may possible get messy and time-consuming, to not degree out you want a superb current of ice obtainable.
A Bit About Ice Crystals
No matter your methodology, frozen greens and fruits will at all times be softer (generally even mushy) than if you froze them. This softer texture comes from ice crystals that kind when the greens are frozen.
All people is conscious of that water expands on account of it freezes. It’s on account of the hydrogen bonds in water broaden as they freeze, creating additional quantity.
Anybody who has fastidiously checked out snowflakes furthermore is acutely aware of that water freezes in six-sided crystals. Naturally, these regular constructions take up additional room than a liquid, which kinds to the kind of its container.
Appropriately, what occurs 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. Nonetheless, everytime you thaw that little zucchini dice and the ice crystals develop to be liquid as quickly as further, the cell partitions lose their structural integrity.
You attempt standing up straight after being riddled with holes made by icicles.
Should you take into consideration that zucchini is about 90% water, it’s easy to know why it’s so mushy as shortly as a result of it has thawed.
However Tracey, as quickly as I purchase store-bought frozen greens, they’re on no account as mushy as these I freeze at dwelling.
Ah-ha, that’s an outstanding stage, and there’s a easy rationalization for that too.
The quicker water freezes, the smaller the next ice crystals. As quickly as we freeze greens in our dwelling, the tactic can take quite a lot of hours, principal to larger crystals. Whereas with commercially flash-frozen greens, it takes minutes. Liquid nitrogen is employed to freeze factors nearly immediately.
All of that is to say, it doesn’t matter what methodology you make the most of, if you freeze greens or fruits, they could at all times be softer when thawed.
With the science out of one of many easiest methods, let’s freeze some zucchini.
No-Blanch Frozen Zucchini
I found this trick additional by probability than one thing. All by my first few makes an attempt at freezing batches of unblanched zucchini, I seen when it thawed; the shredded zucchini held up fairly appropriately as in contrast with the slices and cubes I made.
I’m totally blissful to forego slices of tender summer season season season squash all through the winter for zucchini larger suited to bread, pasta, soups, stir-fries and fritters. So, I’ve been freezing my zucchini this development ever since.
Devices:
- Meals processor, mandolin slicer or topic grater
- Colander
- Baking sheet
- Parchment Paper
- One cup measuring cup
- Freezer bag
The Course of:
- Collect up your zucchini. Work shortly; everytime you’re freezing it, your plant may very well be out all through the yard rising a dozen additional.
- Slice off the easiest and backside of the squash.
- Use a meals processor or mandolin slicer to grate your zucchini. To make sure that you a killer core practice, grate your zucchini with a topic grater. Because you labored off your complete zucchini bread you’re about to eat; you presumably can have an additional slice.
- Place the grated zucchini all through the colander all through the sink. As you add additional, gently press it down and squeeze it barely bit to take away additional water.
- Utilizing the one-cup measuring cup, pack it with shredded zucchini. Now plop it out on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Repeat till the sheet is roofed with zucchini hay stacks and put it all through the freezer.
- As shortly as your zucchini stacks are frozen regular, take them off the baking sheet and put them collectively in a single freezer bag.
- Use a straw to suck out as relatively so much air as attainable from the bag before sealing it and popping it as soon as extra all through the freezer.
Voila! Now you may need pre-measured one-cup parts of zucchini everytime you want it.
I’ve seen just a few tutorials the place the grated zucchini is frozen particularly specific particular person freezer baggage in a single or two-cup parts. This seems to be like like fairly a number of plastic waste to me, to not degree out fairly a number of additional work sucking your complete air out of every bag and sealing it up.
Nope, not on this kitchen. We’re easy, subsequently freezing the zucchini first in pre-measured parts.
Everytime you want zucchini, you presumably can seize as many one-cup chunks as you want. And for factors like pasta and stir-fries, you don’t ought to thaw it first; merely toss the frozen zucchini in everytime you’re cooking.
When preserving meals, it’s at all times a wonderful suggestion to make the most of a number of methodology; that technique, in case your freezer dies in another case you lose a batch of zucchini relish to a foul seal, you don’t lose your entire harvest for the 12 months. Try Cheryl’s good piece for additional methods to protect zucchini.
Freezing zucchini this development makes it easy to benefit from your bounty all 12 months extended, with out the time-consuming strategy of blanching it first.
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