How to freeze raw cauliflower
Can you freeze cauliflower without whitening or without cooking? Yes, although it is always better to apply a previous treatment to freeze cauliflower, you can also keep it directly raw. Of course, you should always consider that by defrosting an unskilled or bleaching food, it will suffer an accelerated proceeding of aging, thus losing its sensory characteristics: smell, texture, color, flavor, etc. For this reason, you must consume the cauliflower almost immediately after defrosting it. That said, if you prefer to freeze fresh cauliflower, follow these simple steps:- Select a fresh and good condition. If you want to freeze a food successfully, you must acquire a good, quality product. In the case of this vegetable you must have the following characteristics: the head must be firm and white, without brown spots or flaccid parts, etc. Avoid acquiring large heads.
РWash your hands very well. S̩lealas with soap and water for minimum 20 seconds.
– Meticulously the work surface and the utensils you will use. For example, the table, the knife, the table, the strainer, etc. Keep in mind that you must have an exclusive table for chopping vegetables, thus avoiding cross contamination.
– Before cutting the cauliflower, rinse it slightly. You just need to take away the remains of land and dirt, since then you will disinfect it and rinse correctly.
– Separate the head bouquets. Divide the branches until you get several manageable pieces to wash them. You can do it with a knife or your own hands.
– Remove the heart and leaves. Eliminates the center or trunk of the vegetable, as well as all the leaves.
– Dip the bouquets inside a large bowl full of water and some food antiseptic. Revele them inside the water and leave them there for 15-20 minutes. They should not float, or they will not disinfect correctly. To solve this problem, put one or two leaves of absorbent paper on water and branches (cover them completely), the idea is that the paper is soaked, leaving the branches below the water. After the necessary time passes, you will see how the remains of dirt are afloat, by removing the paper. As for the disinfectant you can use, we recommend vinegar, lemon or bicarbonate. Check how to disinfect vegetables to learn more options.
– Discard the water and clarify the pieces very well under a stream of cold water. Let it run abundant water for a couple of minutes.
– Drain and dry. Pass the pieces through a strainer and dry them with cooking paper. They must be very dry or when frozen will form water crystals.
– If the bouquets are very large, cut them in smaller pieces. It all depends on the recipes you want to prepare once the cauliflower is defrosted. If you plan to use cauliflower for a soup or mash, you don need to cut it into uniform pieces. Instead, if you plan to prepare a garnish, cut it into balanced pieces to achieve a good presentation. Remember that if the pieces are very large, they will not freeze well, a good size for the branches would be 3 cm.
– Save the pieces in containers designed for high temperatures. Thus, you isolate the cold pieces of the cold of the freezer and any smell. You can use plastic containers or bags, but we recommend the latter because they allow you to make a kind of homemade vacuum (although in the long run, they are not very ecological).
– Distribute the portions in several containers. Thus, just dicking down what you will consume immediately.
– If you use a bag, take out all the air. An interesting trick that you can try is to use a straw to take the air. The procedure is simple, place the bag on the work table and put the straw for a corner. Fill the bag with vegetables, close the zipper to where the straw is, take out the air inside the straw crushing the empty parts of the bag. Once ready, retire and close.
– Label the container or bag. Place the name of the vegetable and the packaging date.
– Distribute the bags in the frozen leaving space between them.
The conservation time of frozen raw cauliflower is 1 or 2 months.
How to freeze cooked cauliflowerWithout a doubt, one of the best ways to freeze cauliflower at home is this. When we refer about how to freeze cooked cauliflower, we talk about precooked or treated cauliflower with a previous process known as scalding (they can also be bleached). This culinary technique is to cook food for very short minutes in boiling or steamed water. Its purpose is to stop the enzymatic activity, causing degradation or aging of food (those that change their color, taste, texture and nutrients). Freezing boiled cauliflower is very simple and is summarized in a few steps:- Choose a good quality cauliflower.
– Keep everything very clean. Wash your hands very well, assess the work surface and the utensils you will use.
– Wash the cauliflower under the jet from the tap to remove the dirt a little. A couple of minutes will suffice.
– Cut the cauliflower into bouquets. There will be manageable pieces that will be comfortable to wash and disinfect well. To do so, help yourself with a knife or your own hands. If you think that the bouquets are very large, pic them in smaller pieces.
– Take out the heart and leaves. Discard the center or trunk of the vegetable, as well as all the leaves. If you don want to discard them, you can use them to make vegetable broth.
– Disinfect the cauliflower by colliding the branches in a bowl with water and disinfectant. Leave them there for 15-20 minutes. Don let them float. Remember that the most appropriate disinfectants are lemon juice, vinegar and bicarbonate.
– Clarifies the cauliflower pieces under the tap water.
– Drain the bouquets, passing them through a strainer.
– Scald the cauliflower. To do this, fill a casserole with water occupying 2/3 of its capacity and boil. During the boiling process, add the pieces and cook for 3 minutes, without covering the pot.
– Give the cauliflower a cold bath to stop the scalding process. As soon as the required time ends, you must quickly drain the cauliflower bouquets, then place them in a bowl with a lot of ice and abundant cold water. Leave them there for 3 minutes. Another method would be an inverse or inverted maria.
– Drain the bouquets and stop them very well. First put them in the strainer and, once drained very well, stop them with absorbent paper. Not a droplet of water should be left.
– Pack the cauliflower parts. Guard them in plastic containers or special freezing bags.
– If you freeze in bags, take out the air (make a homemade vacuum). Before we have taught you a way of making the void and now we show you another. Once you have the pieces of vegetables inside the bag, pass your hand through the closure but do not reach the end, leave a small open space. The bag immerses in a bowl with warm water, little by little and with great care, until almost all inside the water, except the zipper. Help yourself with your fingers to put the bag inside the water. It is important that at any time between liquid inside, not even a drop. Once the vacuum is done, finish closing hermetically, stop it on the outside and freeze the boiled cauliflower.
– Identify the container or bag. Put the name of the vegetable and the freezing date.
– Order the bags in the freezer separated from each other.
With this method, you can keep the cooked cauliflower for 8 months or 1 year. As you can see, in this way the life of food is considerably expanded.
Can cauliflower be freezed with Bechamel?
If you keep the cooked cauliflower, when defroster, its essential characteristics do not change much. Instead, the Bechamel sauce, when you keep it alone, it does change when you defrost, acquiring a slightly watery consistency. This happens because the sauces contained (Croquettes, lasagna, etc.), freezes quite well. For this reason, cauliflower with Bechamel can be frozen and obtain good results. But to freeze dishes already cooked properly, the methods to be used are a bit different than employees to freeze fresh food, so you need to follow the following recommendations:- Save cauliflower with bechamel in a plastic container (with a lid) than Serve for freezing.
– If you prepared a lot, distribute it in several similar containers.
– Get them very well.
– Wrap them on film paper.
– Refrigerate first before freezing. Thus, save the sprouts in the fridge for 30 minutes and then congress them.
The maximum conservation time of the cauliflower with frozen bechamel is one week. To learn to prepare this delicious dish, do not miss our cauliflower recipe with Bechamel.
Can you freeze steam cauliflower?
Of course, in fact, the scalding process can be done with boiling or steamed water. Thus, you can follow the steps indicated in the section destined to explain how to freeze cooked cauliflower, but carrying out the steamed technique instead of directly in boiling water. To freeze, even if it is steamed, a time is also recommended to the employee to cook and eat immediate freeze it like this. Of course, if you plan to do more to eat and freeze, we advise you to cook the steamed cauliflower little by little and over low heat, both to maintain its properties as intact as possible and to benefit the subsequent freezing. Check the steamed cauliflower recipe and enjoy a healthy dish. The conservation time of frozen steam cauliflower is 8 months to 1 year.
How to defrost cauliflower
If we inappropriately defrost a food, we most likely lose all the work done to preserve it, since its sensory characteristics and nutrients will fade quickly. For this reason, it is as important to freeze cauliflower correctly as defrosting it in the same way. Thinking about this, then you can check all tips on how to defrost cauliflower:- Enter in the fridge the containers or bags with frozen cauliflower, thus the pieces will be defrost slowly and without losing qualities. Do it in advance, because a couple of hours are needed for the vegetable to begin to adapt to the new temperature.
– Never try to defrost the cauliflower with hot water or leaving it at room temperature. That abrupt change of temperature will not favor food.
– If you are in a hurry, defrost it with cold water. Fill a container with cold water and ice and place inside the bag or container. This will melt the ice in a controlled way.
– You can cook the cauliflower without defrosting it in certain preparations. Adding it directly to sauteed, broths, stews and creams.
– Once the cauliflower is defrosted, do not freeze it again. This vegetable not only loses its sensory and nutritional characteristics in this process, it could also cause food poisoning.
– If by defrosting the cauliflower you observe a drastic change in it, disreach it. Bad smell or dismembered appearance will be your reference point. Such food will no longer give you nutrients, it will not be pleasant to the palate and can even poison you.
How to keep the cooked cauliflower in the fridge
During the freezing process, many people wonder how to conserve the cooked cauliflower in the fridge once defrosted. The truth is that it is best to keep it in the same freezing container until its consumption. Since a freezing process has already suffered, it is not advisable
– Cauliflower pancakes
– Cauliflower cream
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