Is it possible to freeze sorrel for the winter?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Most modern housewives refuse to preserve food with s alt or sugar and try to freeze food. Moreover, freezing mushrooms, vegetables, berries or fruits is considered the easiest way to harvest for future use. The greenery, which we miss so much in the cold months of the year, is no exception.

However, is it possible to freeze sorrel - an early vegetable crop? After all, fresh and juicy leaves of this plant are quite fragile and tender. They require careful handling and do not like exposure to cold. How will they behave after long-term storage at low temperatures?

Keeping useful

As you know, the leaves of this green plant contain a large amount of oxalic acid, organic substances and vitamins. Traditional medicine characterizes sorrel as a general tonic that helps normalize the digestive process, and recommends using it all year round. Therefore, many people ask questions: “Is it possible to freeze fresh sorrel? Will all its useful properties be preserved?”

In fact, useful trace elements will be fully preserved in properly prepared leaves. Low temperatureswill not affect the composition of the plant and its taste properties. With the right technological process for preparing the leaves and adequate storage of them, you can enjoy fresh sorrel dishes all year round.

Is it possible to freeze leaves: preparation technology

As soon as the mistress's sorrel is not frozen! It is cut and laid out in bags fresh or blanched, placed in various containers and containers, sprinkled with s alt or sugar, twisted and frozen whole leaves. However, whatever freezing method is chosen, there are certain rules for preparing fresh leaves.

• Firstly, the sorrel is carefully sorted and separated inflorescences, withered leaves and sprouts of other plants.
• Secondly, the grass cleaned of impurities is thoroughly washed. To do this, sorrel is soaked in a shallow container so that lumps of earth and dust settle at the bottom of the dish. If the dirt remains on the leaves at the preparation stage, then after defrosting the product, it will no longer be possible to get rid of it, and the cooked dish will be spoiled.
• Third, after thorough washing, the water from the leaves must be completely removed. To do this, the prepared grass is left for some time in a colander, and then laid out in a thin layer on a towel and dried a little.

Is it possible to freeze sorrel in the freezer if some of the water has not evaporated from the leaves? The answer is quite simple: as a result of defrosting wet grass, you can get an unappetizing waterymass. Undoubtedly, this can also affect the appearance of the cooked dish.

Methods of preservation in the freezer

People who have encountered such a procedure for the first time, who do not know how best to freeze sorrel leaves, whether it can be done without much effort and how to get a good product at the same time, there may be a problem with the optimal choice of preservation - there are too many freezing options today. Someone puts whole leaves in the freezer, and someone grinds the grass with a knife or using a meat grinder, blender and other devices. Some use ordinary plastic bags, while others use special containers, jars or ice cube trays.

Cut, blanch and store

Many housewives, after carrying out the standard procedure for preparing fresh leaves, grind them with a sharp knife. Usually, sorrel is cut across into small strips, and if necessary, if the leaf is large, it is also cut lengthwise. Then the crushed mass is dipped in boiling water for a few seconds. Do not be afraid that after heat treatment the plant will acquire a completely different color - a darker color will not affect the taste characteristics of the herb.

Now it will take some time for the sorrel to cool down, unnecessary moisture is gone, and the leaves themselves dry out a little. Then the resulting mass is laid out in plastic bags in small portions. By releasing excess air from the bag, the grass is compacted and evenly distributed.

Keep whole sorrel

Some lovers of all kinds of sorrel pies keep prepared grass leaves whole. However, this harvesting method has a clear drawback, which owners of small freezers will surely note - bags with leaves take up a lot of space. In addition, frozen grass is difficult to cut, as the leaves begin to crumble heavily, and when thawed they look completely unappetizing.

Chop with a blender

Recently, there are more and more recipes in which greens are recommended to be frozen in special molds for ice. Interestingly, with the help of such attributes, is it possible to freeze sorrel in the freezer? Feedback from hostesses who have experienced this freezing method indicates that pre-formed cubes are much easier and more convenient to use in the cooking process.

To prepare such portioned briquettes for long-term storage, prepared sorrel must be crushed with a blender or a conventional meat grinder. The resulting puree is laid out in special molds, poured with a small amount of cooled boiled water and sent to the freezer. When you need to add sour seasoning to a soup, salad or make a filling for pies, you do not need to take out the entire batch of frozen product and pick out the required amount. Here it is enough to make simple manipulations - and the finished piece of chopped sorrel will instantly move into the dish being prepared.

Fragrantensemble

Is it possible to freeze sorrel for the winter along with other green herbs and seasonings? Of course you can. In the cold season, when fresh vegetables and herbs are sorely lacking in our diet, a tasty and aromatic supplement will come in handy. That is why many people lay for long-term storage not one plant crop, but immediately a mixture of various green leaves. A portion prepared ensemble of fresh herbs - onions, dill, parsley and sorrel - can be an excellent seasoning for various broths, soups, vegetable stews and salads.

And finally…

This is the answer to the question: “Is it possible to freeze sorrel?” Now we know for sure that you can enjoy the spring freshness of lush grass all year round - it does not lose its taste characteristics. Using frozen seasoning, you can give the dish a unique taste and aroma. Moreover, this early green is very useful and partially compensates for the deficiency of trace elements necessary for the body.

However, it is worth noting that all good things should be in moderation. This also applies to the use of sorrel. An excessive amount of oxalic acid present in the plant can adversely affect the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and urinary tract. Therefore, nutritionists recommend eating sorrel in your diet no more than 2-3 times a week.