Is it possible to freeze cabbage in the freezer for the winter

Autumn is a hot time for every housewife. People often wonder if it is possible to freeze cabbage. The answer is extremely positive. Of course, freezing is a quick and easy way to make a special version of winter preparations.

So, not only fruits and berries can be frozen. Cabbage perfectly tolerates the effects of negative temperatures. More often it is fermented or s alted, however, in the form of ice cream, it can also be used for cooking. For salads or snacks, such a fork is not useful, because it becomes soft after defrosting, but you can cook wonderful borscht, cutlets and vegetable casseroles.

With great pleasure, those housewives who are engaged in large-scale harvesting for the winter and wondering whether it is possible to freeze white cabbage freeze this vegetable with great pleasure.

If you have a large freezer compartment and a good harvest, you can provide yourself with supplies for the whole winter, and buy fresh cabbage only for cooking fresh dishes.

Using frozen forks

You can use pre-frozen white cabbage for the winter in different ways:

Use for cabbage rolls. Thawed leaves do not need to be boiled in boiling water, because they will already be soft after exposure to cold air.
Vegetable stew. Pairs well with potatoes, onions and fresh carrots.
Use as a filling. Frozen head can make delicious pies.

It's just as versatile when frozen as it is when fresh. It will not work to make a salad from it, because the cabbage becomes soft, but the main properties are preserved: it does not fall apart, the taste remains almost unchanged. It is important that you can freeze not only winter, obviously very hard varieties of white cabbage, but also summer, soft ones.

Pros and cons of freezing

Before freezing, you need to understand what to expect from this process, what results can be achieved. Along with drying vegetables, “cryotherapy” is becoming very popular with housewives.

By freezing cabbage for the winter, you can be sure that:

ready semi-finished product will always be at hand;
the useful qualities of the vegetable will not be lost;
if necessary, the product can be quickly defrosted;
keep the vegetable for a long time;
by mixing with other vegetables and then freezing the mixture, you can not think about making soup dressings in winter.

There is such a way to preserve the harvest, like freezing cabbage, and disadvantages:

unsuitability of white cabbage for making salads;
no crunch after defrosting;
high requirements for freezer capacity.

Be careful when defrosting white cabbage. If the product has not been used, it cannot be refrozen.

Preparing for freezing

There are deadlines for harvesting vegetables from the garden. Subsequently, it can be stored in a cool, dry place or frozen white cabbage for the winter. Even a young hostess can handle the simplest freezing process. However, this procedure has certain nuances:

Before freezing cabbage, it must be well prepared: make sure the heads are intact, there are no signs of decay.
For freezing, you can take only strong heads of cabbage that are formed in the right way.
There must be no traces of insects, otherwise the caterpillars will be frozen along with the leaves in which they hide.
The upper leaves must be removed, the washed head should be wiped with a towel.

If insects are suspected, soak the forks for half an hour in cold water, to which 40 grams of table s alt per liter of liquid has been added. After this treatment, the forks should be washed well.

How to freeze white cabbage

Depending on how you intend to use the vegetable, you should also choose the method of freezing: a whole fork, individual leaves or chopped. The shelf life in the freezer also depends on this.

Frozen heads of cabbage should be stored at a temperature not higher than -18 ° C for 8 - 10 months. If these conditions cannot be met, the storage period should be reduced.

If you plan to prepare a large amount of leaves and shredded material, you should consider purchasing a freestanding freezer.

Each serving should be bagged or wrapped in cling film. In small bags, you can freeze shredded cabbage or whole leaves. It is also possible to make one-piece forks, but this requires a lot of space.

Freezing a whole head of cabbage

If you have the appropriate equipment, you can freeze cabbage for the winter as a whole. Subsequently, these heads of cabbage can be used for the preparation of cabbage rolls. Every housewife knows that minced meat is not wrapped in fresh leaves, because the leaf bursts.To do this, it is pre-boiled or scalded with boiling water. From the sharp impact of temperatures, the cabbage leaf loses its properties and becomes supple and soft.

A clean and dry fork should have the stalk removed. It is better if you do this with a sharp and thin knife. A dry head of cabbage is carefully wrapped with cling film and put in the freezer.

When planning to make cabbage rolls, you need to get the vegetable out of the freezer in advance and leave it in the refrigerator for a while. In a few hours, the forks will become usable and will not deteriorate. Frozen cabbage rolls are prepared very quickly, after cooking you will find some unfamiliar flavors.

Freezing Shredded Cabbage

After removing the stalk, chop the vegetable in a convenient way. Then the resulting mass is packaged in separate bags, squeezing the air out of them, and well packed. To freeze, immediately place the bags of cabbage in the freezer.

If a slightly bitter taste is detected, the vegetable must be dipped in boiling water for a few seconds, after which the water is allowed to drain. As soon as the head of cabbage becomes dry, it can be chopped. Interesting options for preparations are obtained when other vegetables are added to the cabbage during freezing: beets, carrots, bell peppers.

Storage conditions

Thinking about whether white cabbage can be frozen, you should know that you can store a properly frozen vegetable for 10 months. Compliance with the technology involves placing vegetables in a chamber, the temperature inside of which is below minus 18 ° C.

If the cabbage was removed and thawed, the procedure cannot be repeated. The leaves will become soft, so when frozen they will be an ice porridge.

When choosing a method for storing cabbage, all the nuances should be taken into account.Whether to use this method to preserve the entire crop, each housewife decides on her own. However, it is worth freezing at least some of the cabbage, because the cooking conditions of some dishes allow the use of frozen material.