Helpful tips on how to properly freeze and preserve cauliflower for the winter

Cauliflower is a seasonal vegetable that contains many beneficial substances. Freezing will help you have this product on your table all year round.

But for this you need to know how to freeze cauliflower for the winter (raw, boiled, together with broccoli) correctly, how and how much to store in the freezer, whether it can be defrosted and re-frozen.

Can it be stored in the freezer?

Cauliflower is a rather demanding vegetable to store. And freezing should also be carried out according to the rules, taking into account the further use of the vegetable.

The first step to obtaining a quality product after defrosting is to choose the right heads. The green leaves around the head of cabbage should be fresh and tightly adjacent.

The inflorescences themselves are healthy, dense, without wilted areas or darkening. Black spots are associated with the appearance of a fungus. The areas affected by it are not suitable for food, and are not suitable for winter preparations, including freezing.

It is important that the following conditions are met:

• freezing should occur fairly quickly;
• repeated defrosting and re-freezing are prohibited;
• It is advisable to know in advance how the cabbage will be used in the future (cooking soups, stewing vegetable stews, etc.);
• the product must be fresh and of high quality from the very beginning.

When you freeze raw cabbage, the beneficial substances in it will remain, but the taste may change, and the consistency will not be as dense. The best option for preparing for freezing is to separate them into inflorescences with a diameter of about 30 mm.

You will find all the most interesting and useful information about ways to store cauliflower. Here.

Preparation for the process

Due to the specific structure of the vegetable and the process of its cultivation, the preliminary preparation of cabbage should be taken seriously.

Basic moments:

1. Selecting a strong, whole and dense head of cabbage.
2. Pre-place the vegetable in a container with salted water. This technique will help get rid of insects and larvae.
3. Before placing in the freezer, it is advisable to immerse the vegetable in boiling water for 2 minutes, adding citric acid or fresh lemon juice.
4. Immediately after boiling water, the cabbage is dipped into a container of cold water. This technique will not only prevent the darkening of the vegetable, but also better preserve the beneficial substances contained in the product.
5. Drying the vegetable must be thorough.
6. Green leaves are removed from the head of cabbage and the inflorescences are separated. This item is not necessary, since cauliflower can be frozen whole.

Choosing containers: what to look for?

Choosing the right container for freezing is no less important than preparing the vegetable itself for long-term storage.

Packaging requirements:

• compactness;
• tightness.

Ordinary plastic bags become brittle at low temperatures and can tear. Rectangular containers are more compact than round ones.

When choosing containers, you should consider how much vegetable you need to prepare one dish.. Based on this, the required container volume is determined.

Methods

Freezing cauliflower in different ways allows you to diversify your winter menu. If the vegetable is already available, it should be frozen as soon as possible, without allowing the inflorescences to wilt.

Raw

To freeze fresh vegetables you need to prepare:

• a large enough pan for processing;
• salt;
• cabbage;
• kitchen towels;
• container;
• water.

Processing order:

1. Trim off the outer leaves.
2. Disassemble the head of cabbage into inflorescences. Place the cabbage in cold salted water for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the pieces.
4. Place the vegetable on napkins or kitchen towels to absorb the water.
5. Place the workpiece in a prepared clean container.

Boiled

To prepare a vegetable (0.5 kg) you will need:

• spacious saucepan;
• water (4 l.);
• salt;
• kitchen towels (napkins);
• container

Work order:

1. Wash the vegetables.
2. Remove leaves.
3. Divide the head of cabbage into approximately equal pieces. The thick main stem is not used for freezing.
4. Pour water into the pan.
5. Boil.
6. There should be cold water in another container.
7. After the water boils in the first pan, place the cabbage in it.
8. To cover with a lid.
9. After boiling, add salt.
10. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
11. Get the inflorescences.
12. Place them in a container of cold water.
13. Get it.
14. Dry.
15. Place into prepared container.
16. Place in the freezer.

During processing, the vegetable remains hard, being in the half-cooked stage.

Chopped or whole: which is better?

Cabbage can be frozen as a whole head. In this case, after defrosting, the entire volume will need to be consumed. The freezing technology is the same. The peculiarity of processing is related to the selection of suitable (large enough) containers.

With broccoli

Cauliflower can be frozen not only on its own, but also as part of an assortment with other vegetables. One popular option is with broccoli.. This set can be used in winter for preparing stews, soups and other dishes.

To prepare, you will need 1 head of broccoli and 1 head of cauliflower. The weight of each head of cabbage is not important.

Procedure for preparing for freezing:

1. Wash the cauliflower and broccoli.
2. Remove leaves.
3. If there are damaged areas, they need to be cut off. Thick main stems are also removed.
4. Divide both vegetables into florets.
5. Boil water, add salt.
6. Cool.
7. Place two types of cabbage in a container of water.
8. After 15-30 minutes, remove the vegetables.
9. Dry.
10. Place into portioned containers so that each container contains both vegetables.

In addition to broccoli, green peas, chopped bell peppers and other vegetables can be added to one bag of frozen cauliflower.

Re-freezing

For that In order to rationally use frozen vegetables, it is recommended to immediately package them into portions. Otherwise, you will have to chop off the required amount of cabbage from a large piece or defrost all the excessively large amount of product at once.

If for some reason more cabbage was thawed than is necessary for preparing one dish, the question arises whether the preparation can be frozen again. You shouldn’t do this - you need to use everything in a day.

Once thawed, cabbage can no longer be re-frozen for the following reasons:

• loss of color, consistency, aroma and taste;
• loss of a significant part of nutrients;
• health hazard.

Recommendations

If you follow the following expert advice, you can avoid many freezing mistakes. cauliflower:

1. It is better to eat the defrosted product within 24 hours, without leaving it for a longer period.
2. Cabbage that has been blanched before freezing no longer requires long-term heat treatment.
3. When preparing dishes with defrosted cabbage, it is necessary to take into account that the frozen vegetable cooks faster.
4. Thawed cabbage can be successfully used for preparing children's and dietary dishes.
5. When organizing long-term storage in the freezer, you need to take into account the temperature regime. At -6°C - this is no more than half a month, at -12°C - 1.5 months, at -18°C - until the next harvest.
6. Additional labeling with the freezing date will help you navigate the shelf life of vegetables.

Using cabbage during cooking without first thawing allows you to preserve the maximum of the vegetable's nutrients.

Video on the topic

This video will show you how to freeze cauliflower correctly:

Conclusion

Frozen cauliflower can last for about a year at low temperatures. At the same time, the majority of the nutrients remain in it.

This processing method allows you to store vegetables for as long as possible., since, even in cellars and refrigerators, cauliflower can rarely be kept fresh for more than a month.