Any woman understands how long it takes to work at home. And it takes not only a huge amount of time, but also forces. Therefore, knowledgeable, tired and ever-busy housewives found a simple and easy way to ease their tasks a little. Each of us loves summer, a season of delicious berries, fruits and vegetables, but, unfortunately, it passes very quickly and the only way to extend it for a few cold winter months ahead is to freeze perishable products. In the old days, when there were no refrigerators and freezers, the landladies dried and preserved fruits and vegetables, but in our time there is no such need, because modern and affordable technology allows us to do without such techniques.
Frozen vegetables, fruits and fruits - the only way to preserve them without losing flavor and useful qualities. They remain not only nutritious, but also as useful, tasty and aromatic as freshly picked, and are preserved almost until the next harvest.
All products intended for freezing are collected fully ripe. To begin with, they are sorted out, cleaned, if necessary, peeled, seed nests, bones and stems are also removed. Takienezhnye berries, like raspberries, are cleaned after defrosting. Freeze no later than 2-3 hours after harvesting. All vegetables and fruits must be washed in running water, then dried on a sieve (for drying you can use a clean cloth). In order to preserve the color of berries, they are blanched (in other words, dipped for 1-2 seconds in a hot line, and then immediately cooled in a cold one). Freezing fruit is recommended quickly and at low temperature in plastic bags, which tightly tie, releasing air from there. It is worth considering that as a result of freezing, some products slightly increase in size.
To store frozen vegetables, fruits or fruits is best in polyethylene bags, because large containers and jars can crack, amyl bags and plastic cups take up a lot of space and this is uneconomical. Ready-to-free packets are densely packed in the freezer.
It is not recommended to freeze the already thawed products - they lose vitamins and become liquid.
Duration of frozen food storage: tomatoes -5-6 months; apples and cauliflower - 4-6 months; dill, green parsley -9-12 months; green onions, green peas and beans - 4-6 months; currant, rhubarb, gooseberry, raspberry, strawberry - 12 months; pepper - 6 months; apricots cherries - 12 months.
Correct and rapid freezing of fruits and fruits allows you to almost completely preserve vitamin C.
To defrost packages with vegetables, berries and fruits, you need to lower them for 30-40 minutes in cold water. Natural defrosting (at room temperature) will take a very long time, so you can put the package in a microwave oven, this will facilitate the task. It should be remembered that the faster the defrosting, the less will be the loss of vitamins. Vitamin properties may collapse if you start to thaw vegetables or berries in the air (from oxygen, the products will begin to stagnate and lose useful properties). For cooking hot dishes, vegetables can be previously un-frozen - they are directly frozen into the boiling water or broth.
When defrosting the refrigerator in winter, it is recommended to take frozen food out on a balcony or put it outside the window. If there is no such possibility, all the bags are temporarily put in a large plastic bag and covered with a blanket. In this form they are preserved, not thawing for hours.