Spinach for the winter at home. Freezing special spinach

Spinach is one of the few leafy vegetables whose taste is fully revealed during cooking. Before you freeze spinach for the winter at home, you need to carefully sort out the green mass and select only young whole leaves. It is important that the product is harvested before the moment of flowering, so its taste will be brighter.

Freezing spinach for the winter is most easily done in a dry way. It differs in that the greens are stored whole leaves, without additional processing or cuts.

1. The leaves are washed under water and dried. They cut off the roots and stems.
2. Greens are sorted by the size of the leaf plate. The mass is laid out in small piles, for portioned use.
3. Spinach is rolled tightly into a tube. The twist is removed in plastic bag or fixed with tape.
4. Greens are laid in the freezer for quick freezing. Once completely frozen, it is placed in large containers for long-term storage.

The dry method allows you to harvest not only whole sheet plates, but also cutting. Before freezing sliced ​​spinach, the leaves are finely chopped. The finished mass is laid out immediately in containers and sent to the freezer.

The main advantages of the method are the ease and laboriousness of the process. Absence heat treatment allows you to keep more green useful substances. Of the shortcomings, it should be noted that the greens require subsequent heat treatment.

Blanching method

You can harvest greens not only in fresh but also after heat treatment. Before preparing spinach for the winter, it is scalded with boiling water or blanched. The blanching method involves boiling the leaves in a sieve for 1 minute.

Due to short-term processing, the color of the product is completely preserved, but nutrients are partially lost.

1. Spinach leaves are washed running water and discuss.
2. Greens are cut into strips 1 centimeter wide.
3. Filtered water is brought to a boil. The crushed mass is placed in a colander or sieve and dipped in boiling water for 30 seconds.
4. Scalded greens are taken out, cooled and excess liquid is removed.
5. The mass is laid out in containers, closed tight lids. If the product is stored in bags, then the excess air is released.
6. Freezing is stored in the vegetable compartment.

If it is not possible to blanch the greens, it can be boiled and frozen along with the broth.

Blanched spinach has a number of benefits:

• blanks are compact in size and do not require much storage space;
• the semi-finished product is ready for quick use;
• freezing preserves the natural color of greenery.

Of the shortcomings, only a partial loss of vitamins after heat treatment is distinguished.

Puree preparation method

Another common method of harvesting spinach for the winter is to freeze the puree. This method involves heat treatment of greens.

1. The leaves are washed under running water. The legs are removed from the greens.
2. Sheet plates are cut into strips 1 centimeter thick and blanched for 30 seconds.
3. Residual water is removed from the mass and transferred to a small container, where it is crushed with a blender until a homogeneous mass.
4. The finished puree is distributed in portioned containers. It can be Silicone forms or boxes for freezing ice.
5. Puree is sent to the freezer for pre-freezing. After freezing, the ice cubes are transferred to large containers, covered with lids and removed for long-term storage.

Puree is great for adding to sauces and pastas. Its advantages are full readiness for subsequent use and natural color. Among the shortcomings, a partial loss of taste and useful properties is noted.

Features of storage and use of the ice cream product

Spinach keeps well in the freezer. To save it beneficial features and taste, you need to know how to properly freeze vegetables.

1. For freezing, airtight containers with tight lids are used. It is allowed to wrap the greens in several bags and put them in cardboard boxes.
2. Spinach does not tolerate temperature extremes. After quick freezing it is placed in a food storage compartment, where it is maintained at a constant temperature.
3. Greens do not tolerate partial defrosting. Many novice cooks are concerned about the question of whether spinach can be re-frozen. Unfortunately, double freezing is not allowed. It is recommended to use small portion containers for the product.
4. The shelf life of harvested spinach is no more than 6 months.
5. The heat treatment time of the prepared product is reduced by half compared to fresh.
6. Frozen spinach is added to pies, casseroles, meatballs, scrambled eggs, sauces and other dishes.

For freezing, it is best to choose spinach leaves from the very first harvest., they have a delicate texture and do not have a bitter aftertaste, in contrast to the leaves collected after the formation of flower arrows.

It does not matter which method of freezing is chosen - the greens must be thoroughly washed from the ground and sand. This can be done by lowering the bunches of greens into a deep container with cold water, and then remove and thoroughly rinse each leaf under running water.

All yellowed and withered leaves must be removed. If the freezing method is used, without blanching, the greens must be dried so that when exposed low temperatures excess moisture did not turn into excess, unnecessary ice.

Freezing whole leaves at home

Spinach can be stored this way all winter.

We offer you to watch a video about another way to freeze whole spinach:

In ice cubes

Without boiling water treatment

1. Spinach is chopped with a blender or scissors for greens.
2. The resulting raw materials are laid out in molds for ice.
3. Pour cold boiled water and put in the freezer.
4. After complete freezing, the cubes are transferred to more compact storage in a bag or container.

With boiling water treatment

1. Put pre-chopped spinach leaves on a sieve.
2. Pour boiling water over.
3. Place in a steamer for a couple of minutes.
4. Arrange the resulting product in ice molds and pour ice water, then send to freeze.

You can store blanks obtained by both methods until spring.

Chopped greens

In raw form, you can freeze not only whole leaves, but chopped. Greens need to be cut into segments of half a centimeter or smaller. Arrange in portions in packages or containers and send to freezer. Such blanks can be stored for ten to twelve months.

How to make puree?

1. Blanch the greens in boiling water for twenty to thirty seconds, then pour over with ice water.
2. Using a blender, turn the leaves into a smooth puree. If there is no blender, rub through a sieve.
3. Divide into molds and put in the freezer.

The preparation is designed for long-term storage, so spinach processed in this way can be consumed all winter.

If it's boiled leaves

Is it possible to freeze not only raw, but also pre-frozen blanched leaves? Yes, you can. The method involves the following actions:

1. dip the spinach in boiling water for twenty to thirty seconds;
2. after moving it into ice water;
3. take out, let the liquid drain, form small balls from the leaves;
4. Arrange in portions in bags or containers and put in the freezer.

The method is designed to store spinach throughout the year. At the same time, it will not deteriorate and retain all its benefits.

Photo

In the photo you can see what frozen spinach looks like.

The benefits of frozen food

The health benefits of frozen spinach cannot be overestimated.. Thanks to chemical composition leaves, its use has a beneficial effect on human body, reducing the risk of strokes and normalizing blood pressure.

Spinach takes part in the processes of hematopoiesis, extinguishes active formation cancer cells. Frozen spinach keeps a large number of vitamin C, which helps prevent age-related decline in vision and iron, which makes the product indispensable for those who suffer from iron deficiency anemia. Also, spinach perfectly supports the immune system, so its use in winter time especially relevant.

Frozen spinach is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals available all year round. If freezing methods are used that require prior heat treatment, some of the nutrients are lost. To maximize the preservation of all the unique properties of spinach for the body, it is recommended to choose the freezing of whole or chopped leaves, without subjecting them to blanching.

Does the calorie content change?

For those who use a diet based on counting calories, it is important to consider that the calorie content of spinach after freezing changes upwards - 22 kcal per 100 grams fresh spinach against 34kcal per 100 grams of frozen.

How to use correctly?

How to eat frozen food? Spinach frozen in any way can be added to soups without prior defrosting. To prepare drinks and second courses, the blanks must be thawed. Spread the spinach in a colander so that all excess liquid is drained, and then squeezed.

If the leaves were frozen whole and not subjected to pretreatment, then after defrosting they do all the same manipulations as with fresh spinach.

What dishes can be added to?

The possibilities of using frozen spinach in cooking are incredibly wide.. It can be used to make sauces, pie fillings, both savory and sweet, casseroles, soups, vitamin drinks, all kinds of marinades, add to minced meat, stew along with other vegetables.

Which method is best for winter storage?

When freezing spinach, you should consider what it will be used for, but in fact it is difficult to stop at any one method. Any of the methods listed in the article allows you to store useful greens throughout the year, so the best solution is to use several freezing options at once, which make it possible to widely use spinach in your diet.

Spinach is frozen not only because of the desire to enjoy all winter delicate taste dishes based on it, but also to maintain health. The use of spinach helps to remove toxins from the body and weight loss and improves overall well-being.

We offer you to watch a video about several ways to freeze spinach:

Before freezing spinach for the winter, washed workpiece dry until the complete disappearance of water droplets on the surface, if during the harvesting process it is planned to preserve the structure of the leaves. To do this, it is better to blow wet leaves with a cold hair dryer.

To harvest spinach for the winter by freezing, you should choose only young plants, before the release of the peduncle. By this time, the structure of the greenery is very tender and it does not have time to pick up the characteristic wormwood bitterness.

Spinach leaves, frozen whole

1. Sort through the prepared raw materials, cut off the hard sections of the stems.
2. Fold 10-15 leaves in a fan, so that the edge of one goes to the edge of the other.
3. Roll the workpiece into a roll and, pressing it slightly with your hand, send it to the freezer. For fixing it is convenient to use cling film.
4. Place frozen spinach leaves in a bag or food container for compact storage.

Before cooking, remove the rolls from the freezer and keep at room temperature until completely thawed.

Filling for the pie

If you want to prepare chopped spinach for the winter, you should divide the prepared raw materials into portions necessary for a single use. Each hostess can determine by eye how much product is used at one time:

Cut the selected and dried leaves into chips, 0.5 cm thick. At the same time, it is better to cut the stems with scissors for greenery;
spread the slices in a thin layer on a cutting board, send to the freezer;
once the spinach is frozen, place it in containers or bags for storage.

This blank is great for making soups and sauces, for filling culinary products and for the stew.

Should know! Greens frozen for future use can be stored until a new harvest without losing their nutritional value And palatability, so you can harvest parsley, dill, and cilantro in this way - whoever loves what.

green cubes

A convenient harvesting method that allows you to end up with a product that is completely ready for use. Before you freeze the base for the puree soup, you should properly blanched the prepared greens - in no case should you overcook:

Dip the clean leaves together with the stems in boiling water for 1 minute;
fold in a colander and immediately lower into cold water with ice - this will help stop the heating process and preserve the color of the workpiece;
grind the cooled mass in a blender or pass through a meat grinder, decompose into silicone molds or in ice trays;
send to the freezer, after a day pour into a bag for storage.
It is convenient to use frozen herb puree in the preparation of sauces for pastas, risotto or as a vitamin and color additive to pastries and pancakes.

Boiled leaf balls

Heat treatment partially destroys the vitamins in the product, but allows you to form convenient balls or cakes before freezing the spinach completely. Which saves a lot of space in the freezer:

Pour the prepared leaves without stems with boiling water for 2 minutes;
remove the greens from the water and immediately lower them into a bowl of ice liquid;
drain the water, throw the cooled product into a colander;
form portioned cakes or small balls from the soft mass;
put on a cutting board and put in the refrigerator;
after a day, fold into containers or bags with a zipper, after releasing air from them.

Today I will tell and show you, my dears, how to freeze spinach for the winter at home. It seems that everything is simple and clear, but among us there are also young hostesses who will definitely need this recipe for homemade preparations for the winter.

IN step by step photos You will see how to freeze spinach in two ways: mashed and whole leaves. The point is that sometimes all kinds of recipes frozen spinach dishes involve the use of just such blanks. Well, fresh can be used in almost any recipe.

I must say that the benefits of spinach can be written for a long, long time - some literary sources even mention him as the king of vegetables. And in fact, spinach is the champion in the content of vitamins and minerals. minerals, which are necessary for correct formation and development of children's bones. That is why, from a young age, teach your kids to use useful homemade food, but remember that spinach is not recommended for people with disabilities water-salt metabolism and liver and kidney diseases.

Ingredients:

Cooking step by step with photos:

To properly freeze spinach for the winter, we need fresh green leaves of this plant. As a rule, spinach is harvested before the moment the plant releases flower buds - at this time a large amount begins to accumulate. oxalic acid. I indicate the mass of fresh spinach, how much I had, and you use the amount that you have.

The longest and, one might say, exhausting stage is the preparation of spinach. It is necessary to thoroughly rinse each leaf, because they have a lot of sand and aphids. To freeze spinach with whole leaves, cut off the stems - you can not throw them away, but use them for spinach puree. But washing everything is very, very important - do not neglect this step.

Putting clean leaves in large saucepan and fill them boiling water for a few minutes. The leaves will become soft and significantly reduced in volume.

Then we throw back the leaves on a sieve and let the liquid drain. When the spinach cools down a bit, we outlive it with our hands - we don’t need extra moisture.

Now we will make spinach puree to freeze it in the form of small portioned piece. Just put some of the leaves in a blender and pierce everything until relatively homogeneous.

Before freezing spinach for the winter, it is worth studying in detail the features of the process so that the greens retain their beneficial properties and do not lose their taste. For this purpose, young leaves, freshly harvested from the garden, are best suited. If this is not possible, there are rules that will help you recognize a fresh plant in the market or in the store.

Like all other greens, spinach can be frozen. Do it absolutely different ways, depending on what dishes the housewife is going to cook from these greens. Leaf spinach can be finely chopped, frozen whole, or mashed.

Selection and preparation of leaflets

For freezing, it is worth selecting leaves without a single flaw and a bright green color. If such greens do not grow in your own garden, when buying, you should pay attention to the degree of maturity of the plant. Leaves always have a limited period for consumption; they should not have flower arrows.

You can freeze a plant that was collected before flowering. For such purposes, it is absolutely unacceptable to use sluggish leaves. Freezing looks like this:

• each leaf must be rid of a rough petiole, and also make sure that it is not dry or lethargic;
• then wash the spinach well;
• after it dries, you can do the choice best way for freezing.

How to freeze at home

Before sending spinach to the freezer, the hostess, first of all, must decide how she will carry out this process. At this stage, it is worth considering what dishes will be prepared from these greens.

Each frost involves compliance with specific rules for preparing the plant. It is worth remembering that not every method will allow you to save everything useful qualities plants.

whole leaves

This freezing is considered the most labor-intensive and simple. This is due to the fact that the hostess does not have to spend a lot of time preparing. But before preparing a dish in the future, a person will have to perform the same manipulations as with fresh leaves.

The advantage of this method is that the plant will retain all the minerals and vitamins that it contains. Speaking of color, it might not get as bright.

The freezing technique is as follows:

1. The leaves are washed, dried and collected in bunches. One should be enough for a single use.
2. A board for quick freezing should be wrapped cling film. Spinach is laid out on its basis in such a way that the bundles do not come into contact with each other.
3. After the plant is frozen and transferred to containers. At this stage, it is very important not to injure the leaves.

blanched spinach

With the help of blanching, a person will receive greens ready for use. After defrosting, spinach can be immediately added to the dish. But it should be understood that when processing occurs, he will lose some of his nutrients, and the color will be completely preserved.

To freeze in this way, you need to perform the following steps:

• well-dried leaves are cut into strips of one centimeter;
• then they are dipped in boiling water for half a minute;
• when the water has completely drained from the plant, it must be cooled;
• now the spinach can be placed in bags, let the air out of them and send to freeze;
• when the plant is frozen, it can be placed in a long-term storage compartment.

spinach puree

This freeze is good way for those housewives who like to add spinach to soups, puree or sauces. After defrosting in this case greens do not require additional processing. It is enough to highlight the required portion and add it to your food. Of the negative aspects of this method, one can note the almost complete loss of the usefulness of the plant and its taste. As for the color, it will be kept.

To freeze, you should first blanch the leaves for 25-30 seconds. After they are crushed in a blender until a homogeneous mass is obtained. If necessary, it can be additionally rubbed through a sieve.

The puree is brought to the required density with the help of decoctions or broths. After spinach can be laid out in previously prepared forms. Now spinach puree can be stored in the freezer until winter.

Shredded spinach

If the hostess does not have a desire in the future, before cooking, to cut spinach, it can be frozen already in chopped form. Here it is worth considering that this greenery does not like re-freezing, so this moment should be foreseen, and the greens should be laid out in disposable bags.

It cannot be said that this method implies the preservation of all nutrients - some of them will be lost. Color and taste will also suffer from negative impact frosts.

Before sending to storage it is worth doing the following:

• first you need to prepare bags or containers;
• dried leaves are cut into strips or in another way;
• now they can be laid out in containers;
• spinach is frozen in the quick freeze mode and transferred to the freezer for long-term storage.

Freezing in ice cubes

Thanks to freezing in ice cubes, a person will have the opportunity to preserve the juice of herbs, as well as her saturated color. Another positive side is the preservation more vitamins.

Before freezing, the plant is crushed at its discretion and laid out in standard ice molds or low containers. After the spinach is poured with boiled water so that it completely covers the workpiece. Now the greens can be sent for freezing.

Freeze puree with butter

To freeze spinach with butter, it is worth adhering to the same technology as without it. The difference is that the molds should be half filled with spinach. Softened butter is spread in the rest.

Note! Butter must not be melted to a liquid state. It is enough that it melts at room temperature and becomes soft.

How much and how the workpiece is stored

When storing spinach, the absence of temperature differences plays a very important role. When it freezes well for the first time, it should be placed in the freezer; do not take out unnecessarily. Also, it should not be in the quick freeze stage for too long.

The containers in which the greens are located must be airtight. It is also important to avoid direct hits. sun rays for workpiece. If not re-frozen, spinach can be stored for about 9-12 months.