Lifestyle

Freeze Applesauce The Right Way

People love apples. They love everything about an apple. They love an apple raw, cooked, or any form possible. Apple-pie applesauce, apple-chips, apple-butter, and the list goes on. You can feed someone apple snacks every day and I bet they will not complain forever. Apple-pie is one famous snack made of apple. But recently we got our attention on applesauce. It is sweet, tasty, easy to make, easy to store, and whatnot. Let’s get into how to make and freeze applesauce.

But regarding storing this snack and using it at any time of the year, we have seen problems. But with the proper strategy, we can always freeze applesauce and use it throughout the year. In this discussion let us talk about it in detail. 

1. Selecting the apples

This is the first step of the whole process. Selecting fine apples is always an added advantage. When you go out for selecting apples for your applesauce, your priority should be getting your hands on the fresh apples.

You can detect them almost right away. They don’t look dull. They look full. Fresh fruits have a vibrant color. So detecting them certainly will not bother you that much. Mcintosh and Golden delicious will give you a classic flavor in your apple sauce. Fuji and Cortland are fine too.

2. Preparing your apples

After you bought them from the market, it is essential to make them germ-free. Boil them in low heat in clean water for a little time. That will make it germ-free. Now you have to peel the skin off the apples.

Using a vegetable peeler is the best to use. But if you are confident with your knife skills you can go with a knife also. Slowly peel away the skin. Try not to cut any portion of the core here. If you do accidentally then keep it for later use.

Now the next step comes where you have to cut and produce equal slices of the apple. Knife skills are necessary here. Cut straight. Leave them in two halves if you want to. If it’s a big apple go for six to eight pieces or even more if you want. But for small apples lower your piece count.

Clean your apple. Leave off any unnecessary parts. You can leave the middle portion of your apple. Making sauce with this thing sounds a little absurd. So you need to scoop it out before the main play. Use a big spoon or you can cut in a circular motion also.

Best practices are to cut in small pieces because then the process of making sauce gets quicker. The big size of the piece will lead to more cooking time. And smaller pieces will lead to less than average time. So if you don’t have any special requirements, go with the smaller pieces.

3. Cooking the apple

Bring the pieces in the pot where you will cook. Add water accordingly. Do not give too much water. Your sauce can become watery because of that. One more important thing is if you think the apples are sticking to the pot during cooking, add more water.

Give low to medium heat to the mixture. You do not need to stir the mixture continuously. Give it a good simmer until the pieces are soft. You can add sweetener or sugar if you want. It depends on individual preference

If the apples are sweet, you can cancel the sugar part. Any external species are welcome in this step. You can add cinnamon or nutmeg to the mixture. The quantities will depend on the one who is cooking the mixture.

4. Making the sauce

After around 15 minutes, turn off the flames of your stove. Now certainly the mixture has gotten thick. The pieces have become softer. Now you have to do one more important thing. You can use a blender for creating a smoother texture here.

Blend the thick mixture in the mixture. Blend twice for more smoothness. The final color depends on the apple that you used in making. Pour in a jar or a big pot. Wait for it to become cold. Make sure to get everything from the blender. You can mix some nuts in the blender with it too.

5. Freeze Applesauce

People want to savor this beautiful snack throughout the year. But applesauce has a shelf life of only a few weeks. Then what to do? The answer is freezing it. Freezing the applesauce can considerably extend its shelf life.

Some might want to freeze the sauce or some may just keep it in the refrigerator. It depends on the needs of someone. If you are using a bag then make sure to get all the air out of it. Use a straw for that purpose. 

Pour the sauce into the bag. It is wise to use a bag, to be honest. It is more user friendly and convenient to use. So go with it accordingly. If you want to use it for a few weeks then do not freeze your applesauce. Just give it a good chill.

If you decide to use a container, then you have to leave some space before packing the container. Because when the applesauce gets frozen it can penetrate the sides or the edges if you leave it without some space. To avoid that to happen at least leave one centimeter between the container and the apple sauce layer.

6. Label Applesauce Bags

This part is for the people who want to enjoy their applesauce every season. Label your freezer bags before entering them in the deep freezer. Write down the date, the quantity, etc. Do not forget to check once in a while. Label your container too.

The next and final step comes now. When you want to get some of your applesauce, getting it frozen is a work of a fool. Boil your container or bag in low heat. When it gets warm, then you need to bring it out and serve. That way you can enjoy this awesome dish to its full taste.

How To Freeze Peaches The Right Way

Peaches are great food. Aren’t they? Everybody likes to enjoy peaches almost every day of the year. There is a way if you want to get this awesome fruit all throughout the year. You have to freeze it right. 

Peaches of off-season do not taste that good. They kind of lose the flavor. So you need to freeze them when in season. Frozen peaches work great almost on every dish. As this is one of the flavourful fruits globally, frozen peaches do not lose their characteristics.

The preparation

What is the correct way to freeze peaches? The answer is – no one knows. But some rules are there. If you freeze accordingly, your peaches may turn as exactly as it was before. Well, that is too much promise, though.

In the preparation segment, there are a few steps. But the most important step here is cutting your peaches. It is slightly difficult if you are a total newbie in this field. It also depends on the ripeness of the fruit. 

Get a nice and sharp knife after that cut the peach into two half. Then removing the pit is the only option that remains. It is okay if both the halves are not perfectly even in proportion. When you use the peach mostly in smoothies, it does not matter what the proportions are.

How to prevent peaches from turning brown?

This is a problem while you freeze certain foods. Like peaches, apple and avocados turn brown when heavily exposed to air. You must have seen this while eating an apple. When you cut in two halves, it is exposed to air. Thus it becomes brown.

There is a solution to every problem. This problem is a very small one in that aspect. What you need is lemon water or simply a mixture of lime juice and water. And you need to soak the fruit pieces in lemon water. That prevents them from turning brown immediately.

Another option is to use a fresh fruit protector. This does the job as well.

Freeze the peaches with the skin on or pealing it before?

Both of this can happen. When you freeze the fruit on the skin, it becomes very easy to let go of the skin when defrosting. But there are different recipes. Different recipes require different forms of this fruit. So it always depends on the requirement of the recipe.

If you intend to peel the skin, follow the steps below.

1. You need two different bowls of water. One for boiling water and one for cooling water.
2. Boil the fruit for a minimum of two to three minutes. You will notice the skin starting to get loose.
3. After doing the second step, now is the cooling step. Bring the fruit out of the boiling water and place them in the cold water.
4. It will take not so much time to get the cold of the cold water. Once you feel right, bring the peach out of the bowl. Now you can easily peel the skin.

It is the conventional way to keep the skin on until you defrost the peach. But again it depends on the user and his requirements.

Freezing and sealing

After you successfully soak them into the lemon water, you have to jump to the next step. The next step is to arrange them individually on a large baking sheet. Do not overlap the pieces because it will create a problem when you try to defrost them.

Next step is to find the ideal container for the fruits. The ideal container can vary in sizes and types. But before putting the pieces in a bag, you need to freeze them overnight or at least for four hours until they become slightly solid. Then comes the process of putting it in the freezer.

After you find your right bag for freezing, make sure you try to keep all the air out of the bag. Push out the air as much as possible. You can straw it out also. Both of these methods work just fine. After that, put your fruit in the bag and tightly lock the seal.

Peach is a great fruit for freezing. You can freeze them as long as a whole year. In this manner, you can also enjoy them no matter what the season is.

After locking the seal do not forget to put all the dates and labels on the bag. If you don’t remember when you put the bags in the freezer, then a major problem will arise. So write the dates on the bags.

Can you keep a whole peach frozen?

Of course, you can freeze a whole peach. But if your recipe does not call for it or require it, try not to freeze any fruit that way. Because when you freeze the peach whole, you do not cut the fruit. So the pit stays inside the peach.

When you intend to use it, you need to defrost the peach; first, you have to boil the fruit in hot water. Then you have to cut the fruit in half and then only you can take out the pit. You see all of this can be a little frustrating for someone. So do the same before freezing and enjoy the fruit afterward.

Small tips about freezing peaches

Freezing is an ideal way to preserve the peaches if one wants to use them the whole year. After defrosting, you may experience subtle softness in the frozen peaches. This is not a reason to worry. Freezing in no way reduces the quality.

There are various places you can add peaches to increase the taste. If you are a fitness lover, add peaches to your oatmeal. People also add them to baked goods or solid foods. Smoothie is a major thing where people add peaches. So the point is to cut the pieces accordingly.

Do not apply frozen peaches directly to your food. Always remember to defrost them. This is a very important thing to do.

Best Ways To Freeze Basil

Freezing basil can be very useful as basil is mostly a summer plant and its leaves dry completely in the winter. The soil needs to be warmed up nicely, and then only basil can grow in it. To solve this problem, freeze basil in your house during the summer, and you can have fresh green basil leaves throughout the year.

Basil is an herb obtained from the plant Ocimumbasilicum L. (sweet basil) and is from the mint family. The plant is small in size and grows up to 100cm. It is widely popular in Asia, America, and Africa. 

It is very much loved in India as well for its aroma and medicinal values. Basil is a kitchen herb and is mostly grown in houses in small pots or vessels. The plant does not require much effort to grow and is very low maintenance but is extremely sensitive to frost. It best grows in warm and humid conditions.

For most of India and the world, the winters are chilling cold, and hence the plant dries down easily. Thus, the leaves of this plant can be collected and stored for around a year by following the methods we will discuss now. 

Methods To Freeze Basil

Out of so many methods available online, only a few are useful. Here we will get to know about the tried and tested ones that are beneficial. 

Also, it is very important to know that we must not lose the qualities and medicinal values while freezing the basil. These methods also ensure that and hence are reliable.

1. Blanched Leaves – 

Blanching is a process in which a vegetable or herb is immersed in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then is immediately transferred to an ice water bath.

For basil leaves, collect the leaves and clean them. Then put them in boiling water for 5-10 seconds, which is enough for basil. Transfer the blanched leaves into an ice water bath. Dry the leaves thoroughly and flash freeze them for about a day. The leaves are then ready to be stored.

Though it is one of the easiest processes, the drawback is that the leaves are very delicate, and hence if they are kept in the boiling water for few more seconds, they turn brown and lose their smell.

2. Washed Leaves – 

In this method, collect and clean the leaves. Wash it with normal water and lay it on a tray to dry them completely. Freeze them for a day or half until they are firm enough to be stored. Then transfer the leaves to a freezer bag and make it airtight. 

This method again doesn’t require much work, but they thaw very quickly. Comparing blanched and unblanched leaves, the blanched one stay fresh for a longer time.

3. Directly Freezing the Leaves – 

As mentioned in the ‘Washed Leaves’ method, follow the same procedure. Wash the leaves and dry them completely, then directly store them in a ziplock bag without flash-freezing them. 

Unblanched leaves are frozen best using this method. The leaves stay in their natural green colour for a longer time, and also this method is very easy.

4. Chopped and Oil Coated Leaves – 

This method is one of the most popular methods to freeze basil. It is widely used, and people review it to be very useful in storing basil.

In this method, we need to wash and dry the leaves as earlier. Then we have to chop the leaves coarsely in a food processor, or a knife can work as well. The chopped leaves are then sprinkled with a little amount of olive oil. 

The leaves and olive oil are then mixed well so that each of the pieces gets well coated with the oil. Then we have to take an ice tray and put the mixture in the tray, add a little water, and freeze. 

The cubes once frozen can be transferred in a freezer bag or a ziplock bag. The cubes’ size will vary according to the size of the tray and so, try to have an idea as one tablespoon of fresh basil leaves is equivalent to how many cubes.

It is a full-proof method to freeze basil if you want that natural green colour of the leaves even after many days.

Tips To Perfectly Freeze Basil

Though the methods mentioned above are easy to follow, sometimes it becomes a bit tricky to get your frozen basil perfectly. To ace, the method of freezing basil, follow these simple tips and it can work wonders.

• The leaves need to be removed from the main stem or from a thick stem to use them and pulling the leaves off the stem using fingers is the best way to do so.
• Use a colander to wash the leaves thoroughly to get rid of all the dirt and even chemicals, if any. A salad spinner can also be used for this step.
• Well, most of the time, it is hard to maintain the bright green colour for a long time but, the ‘Chopped and Oil Coated Leaves’ method works wonders in that case.
• All the methods discussed here are for freezing basil. But, in case you decide to store them in the cupboard, which is at room temperatures, then make sure that oil is not added to it and if you do so, the chances of food poisoning increases.
• For using the frozen basil in dishes where heat will be used, there is no need to thaw the frozen leaves separately. It can be directly put into the dish, and it will melt there only.
• The cube form of frozen basil is much easier to use in soups and stews than in any other dish. So better to choose the method to freeze basil according to the use and the dish you will make.

Uses Of Frozen Basil

Basil is one such herb which is famous for its fragrance. It is widely used in Italian food. Dishes like pesto is made with basil. Soups, stew, chicken, salad, pizza all go well with basil, and delicious dishes can be made by combining the items with basil leaves. 

Also, Mediterranean countries like India use basil in their cuisines.

Gifts for people who have everything

Thanksgiving is the best way to thank someone who is very close to you and also the best way to give your loved one’s beautiful things. It is always fun to wrap the gifts so that your friends and loved ones are surprised to receive the package. You’d love to shop for various products and make a parcel. But what’s not fun is the part where you need to find the best gifts for people who have everything.

Christmas is all about giving something to the kids, to your neighbours and even to those who probably do not need these gifts. You can be someone’s Santa this Christmas! The toughest part is to select a gift. Now, it is quite possible that the gift which you have purchased might already be owned by someone. So does it mean that you would ask out for gifts that your friends want? No definitely not! 

Thankfully, there are so many gifting options now available both online and offline stores. Let us take a quick look at the best gifts for people who have everything. These are small yet thoughtful gifts that you can present to your friends or family. Surprise them with these little yet priceless gestures and be their Santa. 

Best Gifts for People Who Have Everything – 

1. Hand Sanitizers – in 2020,

with the current situation of COVID 19, the best gifting option is to give a hand sanitizer. Stack up your Santa bag with these little bottles this year. This is the best choice to give. And with so many cute looking bottles of hand sanitizer, your friends won’t deny this gift. It is indeed a thoughtful and useful gift. 

2. Wake-Up Light 

So, you may be one of those who have to wake up early in the morning for your office meeting. Indeed this meeting is part of work from home, but waking up in the wee hours is not an easy task. We all need an alarm clock with us to wake the heck out of us. But when the winters set in, the sun is not on its usual time. This unusual and really thoughtful gift will be loved by all. 

The wake-up light with an alarm clock works with the sensors. It has a morning timer in it by which it will beep when there is even the slightest light inside your room. It likewise works as a nightlight, a morning timer, and accompanies seven characteristic sounds to make napping off simpler than any time in recent memory. So, now you need not worry; this intelligent wake-up light cum alarm will surely wake the heck out of you. 

3. Smaller than normal Link Smartphone Printer 

Another unusual gift is this mini printer that can be attached to your mobile phone. Isn’t this a very thoughtful gift for all the professionals? This first-class device will let your calm picture taker companion carry their snaps into the actual domain and take their isolated imagination higher than ever. Printers are re-invented with the latest and new techniques of getting connected with your mobile phones.  

4. Face Mask 

It never hurts to have another mask. And a mask that too as a gift, this is one of the biggest life saviours of 2020. You can give various kinds of masks to your loved ones. There are masks that are hand-painted, customized masks, masks with social messages and whatnot. This indeed is the best gifting option in 2020 for those who literally have everything. 

5. Mini Blossom Pot

Bonsais and mini plants are loved by all. With this engendering unit from Bloomscape, the individual whose space is smaller than normal wilderness can impart the delight to friends and family. It accompanies a stylish cement terrazzo and a bit by bit manages the best way to cut a bit of one plant infant to get another filling in the blink of an eye.

6. Face Masks

Other best gifting items are these sheet masks. Girls of all ages love these sheet masks. Girls love to pamper themselves at night. So why not give your girlfriend, your sisters, your friends or your aunts these sheet masks. The best part is that these sheet masks are super affordable and not one, not two or three, but can stack up against your bag with these sheet masks. No girl will ever say no to these sheet masks. 

Besides these, there are several other gifting options available for those who literally have everything. Now you cannot match the value of your gift with the things they have. But these cute little gestures would please one and all. If your friend/neighbor is a vegan, then you could probably give them some gifts that are vegan. Or you could possibly give them a portrait of animals or their pets. After all, all vegans are animal lovers. And these small little things show how much you care for them.