How to freeze eggplant for the winter in the freezer at home with photos and videos

People often wonder about the right way to freeze eggplant, as the season for these vegetables is not as long as we would like. To preserve the taste of this vegetable until winter, first of all, it is worth understanding that they cannot be frozen raw. That is why ways have been devised to help deal with their long-term preservation.

Can I freeze

The little blue ones can be frozen, for this the fruits should at least be soaked. Raw, they can not be sent to the freezer. Don't forget about freeze times. This product can be stored in the freezer for up to 1 year.In this case, the temperature should be at a level no higher than -18 degrees.

Speaking of refreezing, this is not recommended.

Selection and preparation of fruits for freezing

To make eggplant freezing successful, first of all, you should pay attention to the fact that when buying vegetables, they are fresh and without signs of spoilage.

Among other selection rules, the following can be distinguished:

1. Vegetable peel is even and smooth, without visible damage.
2. When pressed, the vegetable should quickly recover its shape, which will indicate an elastic pulp.
3. Fresh fruits are always heavy. A vegetable with a length of 15-17 centimeters weighs about 500 grams.
4. Eggplant will be ideal, the flesh of which is white, and upon contact with air for a long time retains its appearance.In this case, the seeds should not have an unpleasant odor and be dark. If there are no such signs, most likely, the freezing will fail.
5. For such purposes, it is better to give preference to small fruits, as large specimens contain more corned beef, which gives a bitter taste.
6. You should also pay attention to the stem. In fresh vegetables, it is green and wrinkle-free.
7. Never use overripe fruit, as evidenced by wrinkled or dry skin.

When vegetables are selected, it is worth thinking about proper preparation. To do this, they must be cut and then make sure that they are freed from excess water, since otherwise there is a chance that they will turn into porridge.

The next step is to perform heat treatment, it can be baking, blanching, frying or stewing.

How to properly prepare the refrigerator

Preparing the fridge is about making room for the vegetables to be placed freely. If a non-sealed container is used, the temperature in the freezer should be maintained at -18 degrees. When using sealed dishes, -12 is enough.

The best recipes for freezing eggplant at home

Today, housewives use a lot of ways to store little blue ones in the freezer. After they can be consumed as a main product or added to salads. Regardless of the freezing option, it is worth considering even the smallest details of the process, otherwise there is a high probability that the vegetables will lose their taste or shape.

Whole fruits

To keep whole eggplants in the freezer, buy young and not spoiled vegetables.Next, the raw fruits should be washed well, without tearing off the stalk, and placed in the peel in a frying pan. At the same time, it is recommended to set the minimum value for the fire on the stove so that the vegetables do not burn.

When they are cooked, they should definitely get rid of the bitter skin and wrap in cling film after cooling. Further, the blanks can be laid in a sudok and sent for freezing.

This method is considered one of the most convenient, as it allows you to get the fruits at any time, and, since they are whole, cook delicious dishes from them. In most cases, eggplant caviar is prepared from such frozen fruits.

Another common option is adding them to tomatoes for a summery flavor.

With blanching

To prepare blanks using blanching, it is worth preparing a pot of water, s alt and lemon juice. When the water boils, s alt it and pour one tablespoon of lemon juice. Then you can lower the pieces of eggplant there and boil for no more than 5 minutes.

After they can be taken out and dipped in ice water. Fruits can only be placed in bowls and in the freezer when they have completely cooled down and dried.

Freeze in strips or cubes

To prepare a vegetable cut into strips or cubes for the winter, it is worth buying hard eggplant, but at the same time ripe. You can cut them into pieces, about 2 by 2 centimeters in size. If, after freezing, they go to cook stew, it is worth peeling the fruits.

If you want to freeze a vegetable cut into strips for rolls, it is not necessary to peel the skin. When it comes to freezing raw eggplant, you can start soaking it, and then dry it well, place it in an airtight container and send it to freeze.

Freeze oven baked eggplant

In order to successfully freeze stewed eggplants and at the same time preserve their taste, it is advisable to cut the vegetables into cubes.Next, preheat the oven to 190 degrees. The form, baking sheet or pan is greased with vegetable oil. Now you can put eggplant cubes here and simmer for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

It is not necessary to s alt the vegetable at all. This can be done at will. After the specified time has elapsed, the eggplants can be removed from the oven and allowed to cool to room temperature.

A container is used directly for freezing. For convenience, it is advisable to place a sticker on it with an inscription on how exactly the vegetable was processed and the date of cooking. Frozen stewed fruits are good for making vegetable crumble.

Freezing stewed fruit

If the goal is to freeze stewed vegetables, here you should follow the same scheme as when baking in the oven. To peel the fruit from the peel or not - this can be decided at your discretion. It all depends on what kind of dishes a person is going to cook after defrosting.

If the chef has not yet decided on this, it is still better to peel the eggplants, since in this case you can cook anything from them, and not be afraid for the taste with bitterness, which will not always be appropriate.

Boiled eggplant

So that frozen vegetables do not turn out to be bitter in the future, they should be deeply pierced with a toothpick in several places. Next, the fruits can begin to boil as a whole. Compared to boiling in pieces, they should be in boiling water 3 times longer. Before this, do not forget to s alt the water. When the eggplants are ready, they are pulled out and left to cool completely.

After you can start cutting them into pieces, and at the same time dry them well with a towel.

Pan fried

Pan-fried eggplants are frozen as follows:

• first you need to choose fresh eggplant. Before cooking, they are washed well, cut in the necessary way and soaked in water;
• after the water should be drained and the vegetables dried well;
• next, vegetable oil is poured into the pan, heated a little, and then eggplants are laid out for thorough frying;
• so that in the future too much fat is not absorbed into the vegetable, it is better to put the finished product on a paper towel that absorbs moisture well;
• when the fruits have cooled, they are laid out on a wooden flat surface and wrapped in foil. After they are ready to be sent for freezing;
• if there are a lot of vegetables, they can be folded according to the same principle in several tiers. After a couple of hours, when the fruits are well frozen, they can be taken out of the refrigerator and put in a container with a tight lid or in an airtight bag.

Terms and rules of storage

As mentioned earlier, eggplant in any form is not recommended to be stored in the freezer for more than 12 months. To keep their taste, if whole vegetables are sent to the freezer, they should be rid of the stalk.

Frozen vegetables are best preserved in containers that can be closed as tightly as possible. If air enters, the shelf life will be shortened.

At the same time, it should be understood that the success of freezing directly depends on how correctly the fruits were prepared. If mistakes were made during the drying or soaking process, in the future this will lead to the fact that the eggplant will be spoiled and become unfit for human consumption.

How to defrost food properly

In some cases, frozen blue ones can be cooked immediately, without any defrosting. Another frequently used option is to move them to the refrigerator, where they will thaw gradually. Sometimes it's more appropriate to lay them out on a flat surface and leave them to defrost at room temperature.

It is not recommended to use a microwave for such purposes. This is because it can adversely affect the structure of the vegetable, after which it will become loose.

What can be cooked after defrosting

The most common dishes made with frozen eggplant are:

1. Caviar. To prepare it, you can use fruits with a preliminary heat treatment, and at the same time cut into completely different pieces. In this case, no recommendations are provided, since the blue ones are crushed to a puree consistency during cooking.
2. Rolls. To do this, baked or fried fruits are defrosted and wrapped inside a mixture of cheese, garlic and herbs.
3. Roast in pots. For such a dish, it is better to cut the fruits into small cubes. They are placed in pots with meat, as well as other ingredients, and then placed in the oven.
4. Turrets of tomato, little blue and grated cheese. To prepare such a dish, vegetables are cut into rings. Before cooking, they should be completely thawed and warmed to room temperature. Then you can arrange tomatoes on them and sprinkle grated cheese on top.

In most cases, thawed blue ones can be cooked the same as fresh ones. If the freezing was done correctly, it will not affect the taste of this fruit in any way.

Useful qualities of eggplant

In the little blue ones, a large number of various minerals and vitamins are concentrated. That is why eggplant should be present in the diet of any person who wants to be he althy. Thanks to potassium s alts, fruits have a positive effect on blood vessels and heart performance.

Doctors advise eating these vegetables for people who have metabolic problems. They will also be useful for pain in the digestive tract, kidneys and liver. The fruits are still rich in fiber, which has a positive effect on bowel function. Eggplants will also prove to be beneficial for people who are on a diet, as they contain only 28 kilocalories.

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