Is blanch freezing vegetables required for short term storage?

Question

I need some vegetables to last for about a month until I've juiced them all.

Blanch freezing many vegetables sees them last for periods 6 months and longer, but it's a bit of a hassle.

Would just ziplocking them in the freezer direct give me a month? I'm talking carrots, celery, spinach, zucchini. I'm sucking air out with a dustbuster which is nowhere near a vacuum sealer but hopefully better than not doing it.

Would putting the celery and spinach in a bowl of (sugared) water keep them going?

Asked by jontyc

Answer

Blanching is done to halt enzymatic action that would start to destroy the plant cells. You can freeze without blanching and the veggies will still be edible even after 6 months but their quality will decline faster.

If you are planning on juicing those veggies within a month then you are going to be doing a lot more damage than the freezer will and I don't think you would see much benefit from blanching. The spinach and celery might stay a little greener when it thaws- the carrots and zucchini would probably not be effected at all.

As for the sugar water. Are you planning on freezing them in the water? I don't think that would do much but dilute their juices when the ice crystals rip them apart. Of course you wouldn't be able to keep spinach in a bowl of water for a month- that would be more like a swamp than food.

Answered by Sobachatina

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Did I blanch baby-cut carrots correctly?

Question

The Cook's Illustrated How-to-Cook Library suggests blanching 3/4 lb baby carrots for crudités in boiling salted water until bright orange, about 15 s. I added a tablespoon of salt to almost four quarts of water and blanched almost 2 lb of baby-cut carrots for 15 s. They didn't change color in this time, but they seemed bright orange from the start. After shocking in ice water and draining, I tasted the blanched carrots against the original raw carrots. They tasted roughly the same. Maybe the blanched ones were slightly less bitter but I'm not sure I would consistently say that in a blind taste test. What difference in taste should I have noticed?

Did I do something wrong? Should I have left them in the boiling water for longer than 15 s? The National Center for Home Food Preservation suggests 5 min for small carrots, but that's for a freezing application rather than raw consumption.

Answer

My guess is that you dropped 2lb of carrots into the water. This drops the water temperature under the boiling-simmering point. So, you're not blanching correctly. You should have taken about 3/4lb portions and blanched them successively. (Or you should have used more water on a bigger stove top.)

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