Preserving vitamins: how to properly freeze fruits, berries and vegetables for the winter

Berry puree for pancakes, fragrant herbs for soup, bell pepper for baking — these and many other dishes can become not only part of the summer menu. If you know how to properly freeze fruits and vegetables, then you can not be afraid to stay in the winter, for example, without your favorite strawberries.

Proper freezing will help preserve all the useful vitamins in vegetables and fruits. Such blanks are much healthier and tastier than their greenhouse counterparts, which are brought to our supermarkets in winter. Not to mention it saves you                 savings  shops 

How to freeze berries, fruits, vegetables: 5 basic rules
How to freeze fruits and berries at at home
List of foods not to be frozen
How to defrost vegetables and fruits
The most important thing about how to properly freeze berries, vegetables and fruits
How to freeze berries, fruits, vegetables: 5 basic rules

The problem of freezing vegetables and fruits at home — is the preservation of vitamins. A few simple tips will help you make healthy winter preparations correctly.

1. Choose the right freezer packaging.

   Zip bags, containers with lids, and even plastic bottles or tetra packs will do. And  it’s better to refuse  plastic bags: they quickly tear, stick to shelves and do do not provide tightness for products.

2. Optimal temperature for freezing — from 18 to 23 degrees below zero.

   This temperature kills harmful bacteria and allows you to store frozen vegetables and fruits for a year.

   For freezing, prepare small portions that can be used once.
Do not re-freeze vegetables and fruits.

3. For fruits, berries and vegetables, choose fresh and free of defects.
So you can not worry about the quality of freezing.

4. Required rule for all types of vegetables, fruits, berries and greens:

   wash everything well and dry.

5. Proper freezing of vegetables

To save space in your freezer, opt for freezing seasonal vegetables. For example, carrots, cabbage and beets can be bought at any time of the year. And here are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini — it is better to freeze.

To make vegetables suitable for cooking in winter, follow the simple rules of freezing:

Vegetables can be cut into cubes, circles or sticks.

1. If desired, it is better to blanch some types of vegetables (dip vegetables in boiling water for a few minutes), let cool and spread into packages. You can blanch: peppers, eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli.

2. Tomatoes are frozen for pizza slices, for sauces and gravy — puree 

3. Peppers can be frozen both cut into cubes and whole, after removing the core and seeds.

4. The corn must be boiled, the grains should be separated from the cob and frozen.

5. Green peas and beans are frozen without their pods.

6. Chop the greens, put in a plastic bag and roll up the tube (the greens can be pre-blanched). This method of freezing will significantly save you space in the freezer.

7. Very handy for making special vegetable mixes for soups or garnishes. To do this, select vegetables for a specific dish (soup, pilaf, ratatouille, stew), cut, place in & nbsp; a container and & nbsp; freeze. Don don't forget to sign the package and indicate the ingredients so you don't get confused.

How to freeze fruits and berries at at home

Berries and  fruits sort out, rotten and damaged fruits will need to be removed. Wash everything well, dry and spread into bags or containers.

To prevent  the berries from sticking together: after the berries have dried, place them on a tray and send to freeze. After a few hours, remove and pour into container.So they will remain whole.

Strawberries, currants or apricots can be mashed. Add sugar in proportions 1:1 and beat with a blender. Puree is perfect for pancakes, as as a sorbet and other desserts that children love so much.

List of foods that must not be frozen

Almost any vegetables and fruits are suitable for freezing for the winter. But and there are exceptions among them:

Don't freeze radishes and cucumbers. They have a lot of water and when defrosted they turn into an inedible mixture;

• frozen green salad also won't please you with its palatability;

orange bitter after freezing;

raw potatoes will darken in the freezer and be unsuitable for cooking;

Watermelon and melon also contain too much water and are therefore not suitable for freezing.

• How to defrost vegetables and fruits

Defrosting is just as important as freezing to preserve vitamins. The most important — defrost slowly and best — in refrigerator.

For example, you can move frozen vegetables in overnight packages from the freezer to refrigerator and use to prepare meals in in the morning.

For baking, you can use immediately frozen berries and fruits, without prior defrosting.

It is not necessary to wash thawed vegetables and fruits, as this will also lose their taste.

Have you ever wondered what the right diet should be? We invite you to get acquainted with 

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The most important thing about how to properly freeze berries, vegetables and fruits

You can freeze most vegetables, fruits, berries and greens.

1. When properly frozen, they retain vitamins and minerals that we lack so much in winter.

2. The process itself will not take you much time and does require special skills: select the best fruits, wash, dry, chop if necessary or leave whole, place in containers with lids.

3. Now on cold evenings you can always pamper yourself and your loved ones with delicious dishes with summer ingredients.

Raw or boiled vegetables: where is the maximum benefit

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