How to freeze carrots for the winter

How to freeze carrots for the winter

Many hostesses gladly freeze berries and summer vegetables - cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant. And they do not even think about freezing carrots. After all, it can be bought even in winter.

But is it worth comparing that winter carrot starting to sprout, already faded a little, with dark spots with that which has just been dug up in the garden? The advantage of the latter is evident! Dense, juicy, with orange sweet pulp carrots just need to save in this form! And this will help freeze.

By the way, properly frozen vegetables retain almost all nutrients, including vitamins.

Preparing carrots for freezing

Only recently dug carrots are suitable for freezing.

Root crops should be smooth, without deformation, they should not be black, green or rotten spots.

Carrots should not be overgrown, as strongly large root vegetables are not so sweet and juicy. Most often, such a carrot is hard, like wood.

It is not worth freezing too small carrots, because it is not so bright yet, and it has a less pronounced taste. And some young carrots are still bitter.

In carrots cut the tops and tail. Wash thoroughly.

Peel carrots from the skin, removing it with a thin layer. And once again washed.

Root vegetables spread on a towel and well dried.

While the carrot dries out, prepare the freezing tanks. These can be small plastic containers, disposable cups, ice-freezers, plastic bags with zip-clasps, or special ones designed for freezing. Ordinary plastic bags will do. But they must be dense and, of course, new. Carrots are frozen both raw and boiled.

Carrots can be frozen and in combination with other vegetables or greens, as well as in the form of a semi-finished salad.

How to freeze chopped carrots

Method 1. Depending on the purpose of freezing, prepared carrots are cut into cubes, cubes, straws, slices or circles.

To prevent carrot slices from sticking together during freezing, they must be completely dry.

Chopped carrots laid out in bags so that this amount was enough for cooking one dish. And so that frozen vegetables do not have to be taken out of the refrigerator several times.

If the carrot is not dry enough, then it must be frozen in two stages.

Stage 1 - Pre-freeze. Chopped carrots spread in one layer on a tray or cutting board and placed in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

Stage 2 - the final freeze. Frozen carrot slices are placed in sachets, if possible, remove air from them and well fasten or fasten. Give the packages a more compact form and put into the freezer for further storage.

Method 2. Washed and peeled carrots are cut into cubes (cubes, slices, circles ...)

Small portions of carrots are placed in a colander and immersed in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.

Then the colander with carrots is immersed in very cold water for the same time. Thanks to this procedure, carrots not only improve the taste, but also maintains a bright color. The cold water method is also used when cooking carrots for salads.

Once cooled, chopped carrots are laid out on a towel and wait until all the water has drained from it. Put the carrots in small bags and put them in the freezer. To keep carrot slices from smothering, they can be frozen in two stages (this was mentioned above).

If the carrots are removed in the freezer without prior freezing, you can use this method: after two or three hours take out the bag with the chopped carrots and, without opening it, “break” the lumps. Just as they do with purchased dumplings or dumplings. Then again remove the bag in the freezer. After this manipulation, the carrot slices freeze one by one.

Method 3. Washed and peeled carrots are placed in a pan and cooked for 5-7 minutes.

Then the carrots are removed from the pan and immediately immersed in cold water for a few minutes.

Carrots spread on a towel and give a good dry.

Then it is cut into cubes or in some other way.

They are packaged in portion packets, the air is released from them, they are well knotted and frozen, preferably in two stages (preliminary freezing, final freezing).

How to freeze carrots, grated on a grater

Prepared carrots rubbed on a medium grater, tightly placed in portioned sachets and give them a flat shape.

The thickness of the bags filled with carrots should not exceed 2-3 cm. Then the carrots will quickly freeze, and such bags are convenient to store, as they are compact and take up less space in the freezer.

Some housewives adapt themselves to such briquettes as necessary to break off the pieces of frozen carrots and use when cooking. But in this case, they take out the bag with the carrot several times, which does not have a very good effect on the further storage and quality of the carrots. Therefore, it is still better to use sachets or containers of such a volume that they contain as many harvested carrots as is required for one meal or for one recipe.

How to freeze carrot puree

Carrot puree in cooking is used less frequently. But moms who have a baby, this method of freezing is resorted to quite often. After all, frozen carrot puree is the best for preparing dishes for babies up to a year or older.

To prepare carrot puree, cleaned and peeled carrots cut into cubes or circles, immersed in boiling water and boiled until soft, about 20-25 minutes.

Then the carrots are ground in a blender.

The mashed potatoes are quickly cooled and laid out in portioned plastic containers.

They are well covered with lids or cling film and put into the freezer.

How to defrost frozen carrots

Most often, such carrots are put in a dish when cooking without defrosting.

But we must remember that frozen vegetables cook much faster than fresh ones.

Pre-boiled carrots are put in a dish at the very end of cooking.

Puree carrots before use, only warmed up. Or, without defrosting, add in mashed potatoes from other vegetables and warm up.

Grated carrots are also added to the dish during cooking without defrosting.

If you want to defrost the carrots, it is placed in the plus compartment of the refrigerator or defrosted at room temperature.

The shelf life of frozen carrots is 8-10 months.

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