How to freeze spinach for the winter at home and is it possible

Spinach is one of the few leafy vegetables whose flavor is fully revealed during cooking. Before you freeze spinach for the winter at home, you need to carefully sort out the green mass and select only young whole leaves. It is important that the product is harvested before flowering, so that its flavor will be brighter.

Dry method

Freezing spinach for the winter is most easily done in a dry way. It differs in that the greens are stored whole leaves, without additional processing or cutting.

1. The leaves are washed under water and dried. Their roots and stems are cut off.
2. Greens are sorted by the size of the leaf plate. The mass is laid out in small piles, for portioned use
3. The spinach is rolled tightly into a tube. The twist is removed in a plastic bag or fixed with a film.
4. Greens are placed in the freezer for quick freezing. Once completely frozen, it is placed in large containers for long-term storage.

The dry method allows you to harvest not only whole sheet plates, but also cutting. Before freezing sliced spinach, the leaves are finely chopped. The finished mass is laid out immediately in containers and sent to the freezer.

The main advantages of the method are the ease and low labor intensity of the process. The absence of heat treatment allows you to save more useful substances in greenery. Of the shortcomings, it should be noted that the greens require subsequent heat treatment.

Blanching method

You can harvest greens not only fresh, but also after heat treatment. Before preparing spinach for the winter, it is scalded with boiling water or blanched. The blanching method involves boiling the leaves in a sieve for 1 minute.

Due to short-term processing, the color of the product is completely preserved, but nutrients are partially lost.

1. Spinach leaves are washed under running water and dried.
2. The greens are cut into strips 1 centimeter wide.
3. The filtered water is brought to a boil. The crushed mass is placed in a colander or sieve and dipped in boiling water for 30 seconds.
4. Scalded greens are taken out, cooled and excess liquid is removed.
5. The mass is laid out in containers, closed with tight lids. If the product is stored in bags, then excess air is released.
6. Frozen stored in the vegetable section.

If it is not possible to blanch the greens, it can be boiled and frozen along with the broth.

Blanched spinach has a number of benefits:

• blanks are compact in size and do not require much storage space;
• semi-finished product ready for quick use;
• freezing preserves the natural color of greens.

Of the shortcomings, only a partial loss of vitamins after heat treatment is distinguished.

Pure preparation method

Another common method of harvesting spinach for the winter is to freeze the puree. This method involves heat treatment of greens.

1. The leaves are washed under running water. Legs are removed from the greens.
2. Sheet plates are cut into strips 1 centimeter thick and blanched for 30 seconds.
3. The remaining water is removed from the mass and transferred to a small container, where it is crushed with a blender until smooth.
4. The finished puree is distributed in portioned containers. These can be silicone molds or ice-freezing boxes.
5. Pure is sent to the freezer for pre-freezing. After freezing, the ice cubes are transferred to large containers, covered with lids and put away for long-term storage.

Pure is great for adding to sauces and pastas. Its advantages are complete readiness for subsequent use and natural color. Among the shortcomings, a partial loss of taste and useful properties is noted.

Features of storage and use of ice cream product

Spinach keeps well in the freezer. To preserve its beneficial properties and taste, you need to know how to freeze vegetables correctly.

1. For freezing, airtight containers with tight lids are used. It is allowed to wrap the greens in several bags and put them in cardboard boxes.
2. Spinach does not tolerate temperature extremes. After quick freezing, it is placed in the food storage compartment, where it is kept at a constant temperature.
3. Greens do not tolerate partial defrosting. Many novice cooks are concerned about the question of whether spinach can be re-frozen. Unfortunately, double freezing is not allowed. It is recommended to use small portion containers for the product.
4. The shelf life of harvested spinach is no more than 6 months.
5. The heat treatment time of the prepared product is halved compared to fresh.
6. Frozen spinach is added to pies, casseroles, cutlets, scrambled eggs, sauces and other dishes.

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