QUESTION : Can I put spinach plant in the freezer ? Do you have any tips on how to prepare it ? -Jay R.
ANSWER : Spinachkeeps well in the Deepfreeze , so freezing any of your harvest time that you wo n’t be eating correctly away is a saucy way to ensure all your homegrown prickly-seeded spinach makes it onto your dinner party plate ( and you do n’t fall back any deflower greens to the wastepaper basket or compost pile ) . When you ’re freeze homegrown spinach that ’s fresh from the garden , your frozen spinach will have that same bright , vibrant savour , and it will stay ready to use for nine to 14 months . Once dethaw , you’re able to use your Spinacia oleracea in a smorgasbord of cooked stunner , although it wo n’t have the appropriate texture for a raw spinach salad or sandwich topping . For every two pounds of bracing Spinacia oleracea you start out with , you ’ll end up with about a dry quart of stock-still Spinacia oleracea leaf .
To commence preparing spinach for frigid storage , you ’ll first need to wash the leave-taking exhaustively to get rid of soil , insects , and anything else that may have made it into the bunch from the garden outside . chef recommend a triplex rinse ( dunk the leaves into cool , clean H2O three separate clock time , be given a novel mint of water for each rinse ) to get all the backbone out of the leaves . This is the clip to remove the stem if hope . You do n’t need to remove the stems of young , untoughened spinach leaves unless they ’re especially stringy or you have a personal preference not to eat them . If your Spinacia oleracea leaves are very large , you should also charge them into pieces about an inch or two all-encompassing .
Next , you ’ll ask to blanch the spinach leaves so the enzyme they hold do n’t make them acrimonious while they ’re salt away in the Deepfreeze . This step makes a bad difference in the flavor of your last product , and it take literally five or so second . Begin by churn a big pot of water ( your heavy stockpot is best ) and machinate a large bowl of internal-combustion engine pee . countenance the folio boil for precisely two minute , then transfer them with a slotted spoonful and change them to the ice water bathroom . The leaves take to stay in the meth water for at least two minutes . dry out your etiolate spinach using a salad spinster or by spread out the leaves out in a unmarried bed on an absorbent dish towel .
Once the leafage have dried , it ’s time to pack your blanched spinach into containers to suspend . you’re able to apply plastic containers designed for storing intellectual nourishment in the deep-freeze or seal part of one or two cups into freezer safe charge plate zipper bags . If you take the pocketbook , to preclude deep-freeze burn you could use a wheat to remove as much air from the bag as potential before close it . If you have a vacuum sealer , freezing spinach is an excellent time to use it .
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