Health

How To Efficiently Freeze Green Beans And Use Them All Year

Green bean is a famous vegetable that is around for a very long time. Mostly every country or culture uses this green vegetable in their dishes. But unfortunately, people cannot grow green beans on any day of the year. Mostly in India, it grows in the wintertime.

There is a concept of using green beans throughout the year by freezing it. Though the different culture has different ways of doing that more or less, the core idea remains the same. In this blog, let’s discuss how to freeze the green beans the right way.

The Right way

There are some ways you can freeze your green beans in order to use them in the future. We should avoid the methods which include mixing artificial ingredients in heavy load. Blanching is a famous way that many people use to freeze this vegetable.

Blanching is important because it prevents any buildup of any external factor before freezing. It also helps to keep the original color and texture of the beans.

Preparing the beans

Preparation is a must before anything. Freezing beans is no different. At first, what you need is a bowl of cool tap water. You need to gently wash your beans with the cool water. Remember to use specifically cold water. After washing the next part is cutting the end of the beans.

If your knife skill is good enough, then there will be not much trouble cutting the end of the beans. Use a small number of beans at a time. Be sure to use a sharp knife. Repeat the process until there are no beans.

In some beans, there is a stringy fibre. Stay sure to remove this from your beans. You will not want those strings into your frozen beans.

Cutting the beans into required pieces

The next step is quite simple here. What you need to do is to cut your vegetable into pieces. How big each and every piece totally depends upon you. There are various recipes, and the different recipe requires different uses of beans. So either you can keep it whole, or you can cut before freezing.

You can also keep the beans whole before freezing and cut them after freezing.

Blanching

The term blanching is just a fancy word for boiling. Many people don’t know what to do with this. But it is a very useful technique in terms of freezing any vegetables. We talked about blanching in the early part of our discussion. Now let us talk in detail.

Blanching simply means boiling vegetables after cutting and quickly bring them into cold water. But if your bean pieces are not even then different pieces will need different times. Like smaller beans will need a smaller time window while bigger pieces will need more boiling time.

While you are boiling your beans, inside you will need a bowl filled with cold water. Cool the beans by keeping them in the cold water after boiling. You need to work simultaneously here. Generally smaller beans need two minutes, and bigger pieces need to take about four minutes to boil.

Cooling in cold water makes the beans keep their green color. Keep them in cold water for around three minutes. After that drain them off the water.

Preparation before the freezing

There is also a certain amount of preparation before freezing. After bringing the beans out of cold water, You need to spread the beans before freezing. Make sure the beans don’t touch or overlap each other. It is very important to keep them that way.

Put your chilled beans in a freezer-friendly container. This container can be anything that supports freezing. You can use freezer bags or freezer-friendly jar. Always try to compact the beans. Leave some space behind in the container. If you are using a jar, it is mandatory to leave some space behind.

Irrespective of what you are using to store your vegetable, always make sure that they are completely dry. Before keeping freezing beans, you need to press out the air too. And the last part includes sealing them completely.

You can use freezer tapes too. This makes sure that the seal around your container is tight. Lastly, put the dates and other information on your freezer bags. Freezing before is important to prevent all the beans from becoming a chunk of beans.

Freezing and timing

Now comes the main part that is freezing. Mainly it is the easiest step. But there are some rules here too. Try to add layers of bags or containers to make them freeze quickly. And also try to keep some space to circulate some air between them.

When the beans are solidly frozen, you can place them near each other. Try to use the beans within eight months of freezing. It can be used after the particular time limit also, but the quality decreases as time passes.

Other ways of freezing Green Beans

There is a way less famous for freezing beans. However, both of these methods use almost the same method. But boiling in hot water is not an option here. Instead of boiling your beans in cold water, you need to first cut them as mentioned in the early steps. Then clean them in plain water. 

This step is happening because one needs to get all the dirt out of the vegetables. Now drying is the next step. Usually, drying takes a bit of time here. It takes about twenty minutes to completely dry the beans. You can use either one paper towel or a normal towel.

Now the next step is even simpler. You need to freeze them. Follow the guidelines for freezing. We were talking about them earlier in the blog. You have followed the instructions. 

If you intend to defrost them and use them in your dishes, then the idea is also the same. Defrost them using boiling water. Directly applying is not what a tasty and urgent dish needs. Try to avoid that. But if you feel you are in a hurry then go with your luck.

How to Freeze Zucchini?

Imagine yourself with a dozen zucchinis – you would try to prepare something delicious from it, isn’t it? Now, imagine yourself with not a dozen or two but kilos of zucchinis, what would you do? You can prepare something out of it for a day, then another alternate day but for how long will you be able to store it? 

You could make zucchini muffins, then the next day you could prepare zucchini soup, you can also prepare some sweets out of zucchini, followed by some noodles, salad and whatnot. But for how long will you keep incorporating this particular ingredient? 

Winters are in full swing, so how about freezing the zucchini your kitchen garden is giving you. Your kitchen garden, your hands and your life is full of this amazing food. Now let us freeze zucchini for you in these simple steps. 

How to freeze Zucchini at home? 

Chop it 

First things first, chop your zucchini into the various sizes you want. Prepare bags of chopped zucchinis of different sizes. This will make your work easier and you would not have to re-chop your veggie once it is frozen. 

Blanch Before Freezing 

The next step is to blanch your vegetable. The main trick lies in this crucial step. You do not have to blanch it for several minutes. Dipping it in hot boiling water for a minute would do your work. This means that you do not soften the zucchini too much so that it gets spoiled while cooking. The surface subsequent to freezing actually isn’t exactly equivalent to when the zucchini was new, yet blanching implies the pieces will remain quite firm even after you defrost it.  

More than that, it helps to cook the zucchini to an extreme and can make it soft subsequent to defrosting, regardless of your earnest attempts. All you need to do is to let the water come to bubble boil. In the meanwhile, keep your chopped veggies in a bowl ready. Let the water boil for a couple of minutes. Put the chopped zucchini into it for exactly one minute. Count it on your fingertips or put a timer for a minute. Switch off the knob of your gas-stove and strain your veggies. Your blanched zucchini is ready to be put into the freezer. 

Don’t Add Salt

Quite often many chefs prescribe adding some salt to the water prior to blanching to give the vegetables some additional flavor on their way to the table. But in case of zucchini, the salt ingested into the vegetable would mellow the cell dividers and make the zucchini soft. So hold the salt for the time being; rather add it when you make your main dish. 

Freeze It Twice 

If you freeze the zucchini subsequent to blanching, it will freeze hard ice over the zucchini. So the trick is to hold the zucchini for some time before you put it into the freezer. Let it cool at room temperature, or you could even put the zucchini into the refrigerator for better results. This will ensure that there is no ice frozen on the veggies when you take it out. 

At the same time, you can also put zucchini onto a silicone mat separately, just for better freezing. This freezes each block of zucchini exclusively, so they can be put away as a free pack in a cooler sack or compartment — a lot simpler to scoop out precisely what you need for your formula. In addition to the modest pieces, defrost all it rapidly during cooking.

Cooking With Frozen Zucchini

Frozen zucchini is the best to be used in any kind of recipe. There is no need to thaw the slices. You could simply and directly use frozen zucchini into your fried rice pot, soup pot, can use it directly in cold salads and sandwiches and can also make steamed veggies with frozen zucchini. 

Conclusion  

The only time taken is while chopping zucchini. Once blanched and frozen, it will not take any time in cooking. Try this at home and see how easy your effective cooking becomes with zucchini. Your veggies are now all frozen and ready to be taken out and be served. So are you ready to serve great food with frozen zucchini?  

How To Freeze Strawberries? 

Juicy, delicious and all pink, these berries steal all our hearts at one go! Kids and adults alike love strawberries. You can eat them as snack bites, as marmalade, pour in dessert, garnish on gateaux or eat them whole. 

Freshly picked ripe strawberries are so dear to our tongues. You cannot resist these maroon pink tinies hanging from leafy greens, and come home picking up more than you could store. 

If you live in a small family, or you have plenty of strawberries for months, we have some freezing tips for you! 

Here is how you can store strawberries for the whole year: 

• Washing comes first! – The first and foremost rule of storing fruits is cleaning them as a priority. Rinse your freshly picked strawberries under running water. (Avoid soaking them lest they would lose their natural flavor). 

• You ain’t got freeze stems, do you? : After you have cleaned those juicy berries, wipe them a little with a soft and clean cloth. Chop of their stems. 

• Line them on a tray: For the next step, you would need a parchment sheet and a tray. Place the parchment paper on your tray. Now, line your strawberries on the tray, and keep a little distance between them. This will prevent the strawberries from sticking with each other. Place your tray in the freezer for at least 2-3 hours. 

• Freeze them altogether: After the strawberries have turned hard, place them in an air- tight container, make sure air is released from the container. Now place all your strawberries in the container and your strawberries are ready to freeze. 

The best part of storing strawberries is you can use them in any recipe and season. 

Now, if you don’t feel like storing them whole, you can store them in the form of a syrup! 

Here is how you can do it: 

• Prepare a normal syrup: To make a normal syrup, add 1 cup of sugar and 4 cups of water in a pan. Stir the pan until the sugar is dissolved.

• Add sliced/whole strawberries: Now place sliced, chopped or whole strawberries in containers with syrup. 

Please note if you have prepared the syrup using heat, ensure it is completely cooled, before pouring strawberries into the containers. 

You can use this syrup as a topping on an ice cream or in a smoothie. 

Now that you know how to store strawberries in two different ways, sneak-peek into the benefits of strawberries: 

• Water rich berries: Strawberries contain 91% of water. Therefore, you can always rely on them and try out some good strawberry recipes to fill in your tummies. 

• Running low on vitamin C? : If you’ve looked at strawberries as flavoring agents, you’re underestimating the power of juicy blush pink berries! Strawberries are rich in Vitamin C and therefore boost your immunity quickly. 

• Protects you from cancer: Because strawberries contain vitamin C, strawberries help you prevent cancer. They contain Ellagic acid that helps in boosting immunity and preventing cancer. 

• No cholesterol problems! : Strawberries are low in cholesterol, you can give them to your loved ones without any worries. Heart patients need not think twice before consuming these delicious berries. 

• Potassium rich fruit: Strawberries are also rich in potassium and therefore help in maintaining your blood pressure. Besides, they are helpful in preventing inflammation especially caused in joints owing to arthritis. 

Well, if you are no so fond of strawberries when it comes to eating, you can try out some beauty hacks to enhance your skin: 

• Pink lips, pink lips: Are your lips turning brown? Can’t get rid of dead cells of your lips? Keep your worries at bay!Take some strawberry pulp, rub it smoothly on your lips for 3-5 minutes and see the result. Strawberries turn your lips pink naturally! 

• Teeth whitener: Malic acid in strawberries keeps your teeth white, and happy. You need not spend your money on expensive toothpaste any longer! Wondering how you use strawberry as  toothpaste? Take a little bit of pulp on your toothbrush and rub it on your teeth, just as you brush your teeth with normal toothpaste. 

• Exfoliation scrub: Strawberries can be helpful in exfoliating dead cells from your skin. To use it as a scrub, cut strawberries into half, rub the pieces on your skin for a few minutes and see the magic. 

• Natural skin toner: Strawberries can do wonders when used as a toner. To prepare a toner, add a few drops of fresh rose water in strawberry juice and apply it on your face using soft cotton cloth. 

• Ward off puffiness under eyes: Did you know strawberries can help prevent puffiness below your eyes? Slice a strawberry into two, place each on your eyes and sit for 15-20 minutes. You will be surprised to see the results. 

Now that you know so many uses of strawberries, it will no more be trouble freezing these strawberries for various hacks the entire year!