Who hasn’t noticed that strawberries purchased in the winter from a grocery store just don’t taste the same as the ones you collect directly from the plant in June? If you have a strawberry patch in your backyard or if you have access to an organic farm where you can pick them yourself, you probably get something like ten times the amount you are actually able to consume before they go bad. The fastest and easiest way to keep the flavour of the fruit for later consumption is to freeze them right away. But how to freeze without plastic?
The best option for plastic-free freezing is to use a stainless steel airtight container. Many sizes and shapes are available, but the rectangular-shaped ones are recommended for optimal space-saving in the freezer. We offer sizes ranging from small sandwich size to 10-litre capacity. We also offer round airtight containers ranging from small 6 oz / 180 ml to very large 5 gallon / 20 litre. There is a size that fits your needs.
Prepping Your Fruit for Freezing
You should first clean your fruits thoroughly and pat them dry or air dry them. If you’re freezing fruits that
you’re going to want to retrieve individually – say to add a few cherries to a smoothie – then you should lay out the fruit separately on a cookie sheet and freeze them overnight. The next day you fill your stainless steel containers with the frozen fruit and it will remain individually available for whenever you need them, even months later.
Prepping Your Veggies for Freezing
As for veggies, it is recommended to blanch them first before freezing them in order to minimize the slow loss of nutrients over time. For this task, a blanching basket is helpful. All you need to do is “flash-boil” your vegetables (1 to 2 minutes depending on the type of vegetable) and then plunge them in an ice bath immediately for another minute to stop the cooking process. Let the vegetables cool and dry on a cloth. If you want them to freeze as individual pieces, follow the same pre-freezing process as for the fruits by laying them all out on a cookie sheet and freezing them overnight in the freezer.
Freezing is one of the easiest and most convenient way to preserve in-season fruits and vegetables for availability during other seasons. Canning, dehydrating (see what we have to say about canning and dehydrating) and fermenting are other options, but they generally require more time and effort. For freezing, all you need is a stainless steel airtight container and a wee bit of planning.
Happy freezing!