What can I preserve without blanching? That’s the question I ask myself when I find I have too much produce to eat before it goes bad. I’m just too busy to mess with steaming/blanching/boiling. Not to mention we don’t have air conditioning and the last thing I want to do is stand over a hot stove in the middle of a steamy, Michigan summer.
So when my mom bought me Caicos Wheels a few years ago for Christmas, it was love at first sight.
One caveat before we proceed: The book does recommend freezing in boilable bags. And while I LOVE our FoodSaver Vacuum Food Sealer, I would not boil the bags as they are not designed to withstand those kinds of temperatures. I scoured the internet for bags that were safe for boiling before giving up and deciding that using the regular bags was just fine, that I can thaw in the refrigerator just fine.
The biggest revelation for me was discovering that you can freeze many fruits and vegetables WITHOUT BLANCHING THEM FIRST. Wow! That made my life SO much easier. Just wash, chop, and vacuum seal. Done. It might not last quite as long in the freezer as the blanched technique, but it’s better than nothing.
So what can you freeze without blanching? Here’s a list below, which I gathered from the book plus various sources over the past couple of years.
- Beans (trim ends. Lasts up to 6 months.)
- Berries (tray freeze)
- Broccoli (florets last 6 weeks, stalks 3 mos)
- Cherries (tray freeze)
- Cranberries (tray freeze)
- Corn on the cob (keep in the husk; lasts up to 4 mos)
- Grapes
- Herbs (if they’re thick and leafy like basil and parsley)
- Okra
- Peas (shelled)
- Peppers (chop and tray freeze, or freeze them whole)
- Rhubarb
- Strawberries
- Summer squash/zucchini (slice into 1/4 inch thick or grate for use in zucchini bread recipes)
- Tomatoes (can core and keep whole, but works better when you puree it)
Other vegetables that need a little work but not much:
- Greens (stir fry until wilted, 2-3 minutes before freezing)
- Onions (tray freeze, then put into bags)
The book also includes recipes and instructions for canning and drying, but the chili turned out awful so I haven’t tried the other recipes. There are numerous other tips included, though.
Of course, the old fashioned way of making salsa, relish, soup, and canning applesauce brings back fond memories and I know of a lot of people who have whole days dedicated to a canning bee. These are a lot of fun. But often they are during the day so I can’t participate unless I want to use one of my precious vacation days from work. So unless I give up a Saturday, it’s just not happening at this stage in my life. I do a few things here and there, but no huge canning bees for me. If it’s something you’d like to try, Canning Across America is a super helpful site.
How about you? What shortcuts have you found to make preserving the harvest quicker?
What a great resource – I will look for it!
Christy recently posted..Mustard Baked Chicken
awesome! Love this book! Need this book!
A vacuum sealer has been on my wish list for sometime now – now I think I need to add this book!
Melinda recently posted..What’s With the Dead Plants
Great tips. I enjoy tray frozen blueberries too.
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I do a lot of steaming and freezing of our homegrown veggies, especially green beans. I would love to skip a step and save time in the preparation. I’m going to check my library system and see if it has the book.
Wendy,
Katie
You can add celery to the list – I freeze in 3″ sticks for adding to stock and diced for recipes. I also freeze onion w/o the tray – just make it a thin enough layer in a Ziploc and be prepared to bang it against the counter a few times before adding to your pot/pan!
This is helpful! thanks for posting it. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for that book…
Alicia’s Homemaking recently posted..Simple Thai- Mango Sticky Rice
Wow! This is a great source of information! I’ve wondered the best way to freeze a lot of the items on your list! Thanks! {I’m over here from TILT}
thanks so much for the tips here in southern illinois there is such a great bounty I believe I will try some of your tips
that looks like an awesome book! I personally do some canning but just kind of a little here and there. I am too isolated to do canning parties, so I’ll spend an afternoon with my oldest and we’ll do a batch of this or that. I think I don’t do any special things to save time except… I only worry about doing what I have time for. Which, these days, is actually more like what I have energy for (I’m quite pregnant and tired allllll the time);
One thing I DID discover this year is that you can can nectarines without taking off the skins first. It remains to be seen if I like doing that once I actually eat them, but they are pretty much the same thing as peaches so I was able to do a fair amount of that this year. And those that I did slip the skins on, I found it was easier to slice them first and then the peels came off a little easier off each slice.
Bethany recently posted..Foodsaver Reviews – The Foodsaver Vacuum Sealer V2840