Freezing is the oldest and most effective way of preserving food for long-term storage.
When berries, fruits and vegetables are frozen, 75–80% of vitamins are retained in them. Whereas when canning with heat only 50–55%, and when drying only 20–30%. In addition, frozen food is a semi-finished product and you do not need to spend time cleaning and cutting them. You can freeze almost all products, except for onions and garlic (they lose their valuable qualities), tomatoes (they become limp when defrosting), and you should also not freeze cucumbers.
To properly freeze food, you need to follow a few rules.
• When freezing apricots, peaches, plums, pits must be removed from them, and the core and seeds of sweet peppers and melons must be removed.
• Cauliflower and apricots must first be doused with boiling water (maybe a little salted), then cooled in cold water and dried.
• Most fruits need to be cut into slices before freezing, which will then be used for cooking, but do not cut them too small, otherwise a lot of juice will flow out of them.
• If there are larvae or bugs in the berries (raspberries), then it is better not to freeze them.
When freezing, dishes are also important. Plastic bags, plastic jars with screw caps, plastic containers with tight-fitting lids will do. The main thing is that the plastic is food grade. It is desirable that the containers are small so that their contents are enough for one time. But glass jars cannot be used - they will crack. When the package is picked up and the product to be frozen is folded into it, it is necessary to release air from the package by tamping its contents.
You can freeze any greens: basil, tarragon, cilantro, sorrel, spinach, wild garlic, nettle and so on. Dill and parsley retain their properties best when frozen. You can freeze the herb mixture. Mint is not suitable for freezing - it is better to dry it.
Before freezing, the greens must be washed, shaken off the water and dried a little on a towel. Then it needs to be cut into pieces about one centimeter long and put in small plastic bags (so that it is enough for one time), then in the freezer. Green bags can be signed. Greens are very difficult to distinguish when frozen. For example, parsley is similar to cilantro.
