Are you looking for a guide on freezer-friendly fruits and veggies? In this post, learn how to freeze fruit, and find tips for freezing vegetables as well. Make sure to freeze the extra summer produce you grab from your garden or farmer's market!
Below is a free printable on freezing your summer produce so you can enjoy it all year round!
What to expect from this Fruit and Vegetable Freezing Printable:
- Which fruits and vegetables are freezer-friendly
- What vegetables and fruits to avoid freezing
- How to freeze fruits and vegetables
- Tips and tricks to get the job done correctly
Tips & Tricks for Freezing Fruit and Vegetables
Learn how to freeze vegetables and fruit to stock your freezer for all winter long.
Pick Fruit at Prime Ripeness
You will want to pick your fruit when it is perfectly ripe. That way you can save the most flavorful fruit and veggies that you can later thaw out and eat. Pick berries when brightly colored and unbruised; pick veggies before they get too big.
Blanching Vegetables
You will find that most vegetables need to be blanched before your freeze them. Blanching is where you toss vegetables in boiling water, cook them for a designated time, drain, and drop in an ice bath. The ice water stops the cooking process.
Discoloring of Fruit
Some fruit will change color once it is frozen. If you don't want your fruit to brown and darken, you can add some lemon juice, orange juice, or a simple syrup to the freezing container. This can help prevent the darkening of the fruit.
What to Expect with Frozen Fruit
When freezing fruit, you will find the fruit is a lot softer once it thaws. Frozen fruit is wonderful for making smoothies and smoothie bowls, yogurt snack bites, tossing in muffins, making jams and jellies, and more.
The possibilities of frozen fruit are endless! You will find the texture is slightly different but the flavor is perfection.
What to Expect with Frozen Vegetables
Just like fruit, frozen vegetables can be a bit softer in texture when thawed. Some vegetables will hold their texture like green beans, peas, and even corn. Other veggies tend to soften a bit.
Mix your vegetables in stir-fries, try this vegan stuffing, mix in soups, stews, vegetable ziti casserole, and more.
What Fruit Doesn't Freeze Well
Citrus fruit and watermelon are both fruits to avoid when freezing. You will find that the texture will be completely mushy once they thaw. However, if you plan to mix these frozen fruits into smoothies, you might not mind their mushiness. I find it is just as easy to use fresh citrus and watermelon when it comes to these fruits.
What Vegetables Don't Freeze Well
Radishes, lettuce, cabbage, etc. don't freeze well. Look at the texture of the vegetable. If it is very delicate (like leaves), it will break down quite a bit once it thaws from being frozen.
High water count items like cucumbers are another vegetable to avoid freezing. Cucumbers will become very mushy and watery once thawed.
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