Ripe eggplants are suitable for freezing for the winter. You can determine the ripeness by pressing the vegetable with your finger. In case of immature, dents on the eggplant will not appear. In the case of overripe eggplant, a dent will appear, but will not recover. Neither one nor the other can be used for freezing.
Attempting to freeze fresh eggplants by cutting them into slices or cubes will not be successful. The bitterness inherent in the vegetable will not go away. In addition, eggplants aged in salted water will be tasteless after defrosting. They will, of course, cease to taste bitter, but after defrosting they will turn into an unappetizing gruel.
How to properly freeze eggplants
Thin medium-sized eggplants are ideal for freezing. Large eggplants usually contain a lot of large seeds. Rinse the vegetables selected for freezing thoroughly, dry with a paper towel and send to the oven until soft. You do not need to use oil. This method of processing will help rid the eggplant of bitterness and excess water. After the eggplants are ready, carefully peel them off. The peel is easy to remove from the baked eggplant. Wrap the vegetables prepared in this way individually with cling film, put in containers for freezing and send to the freezer.
You can put eggplants prepared for freezing into a bag without wrapping with cling film, however, it is more convenient to get frozen vegetables one by one than defrosting the entire bag at once.
The second option for freezing eggplants for the winter
Rinse the eggplants under running water, peel them. Cut the vegetables into slices about half a centimeter-centimeter thick. Place on a special blast-freeze shelf in the refrigerator or place in the freezer on a plastic tray.
Store frozen eggplants at temperatures below –18 ° C. The amount of food to be frozen is determined by the freezing capacity of the refrigerator. The data can be found in the instruction manual.
Transfer the frozen eggplants to containers and refrigerate until winter. Deliver the required amount as needed.
What to cook from freezing
Delicious caviar is obtained from thawed eggplants. To do this, just chop them and add them to finely chopped tomatoes. This salad seems especially tasty in winter.
You can also make Maligiano salad from thawed eggplants. Beat the vegetables in a bowl with added sour cream, garlic and finely chopped walnuts. You can add greens to taste. Sour cream for cooking must be thick, at least 25%.
