Growing up we always preserved the majority of the veggies we ate by blanching and freezing them. Every year when I start my veggie preserving, I always think of all the women in my family who preserved produce for their families and passed on this knowledge to the next generation. I am so grateful
to my mom, grandmother and great grandmother for passing this on to me, the ability to be able to preserve food for my family to nourish us throughout the long, cold winter.
Every spring, one of the first seeds I plant in my garden are sugar snap peas. This year I planted them in a new spot along a chain link fence so they could twine their vines up the fence as they grew.
I was able to start harvesting them about two weeks ago. It always takes me a little while to get enough to preserve since I LOVE picking them fresh from the plant and popping them in my mouth for a tasty home grown treat when I’m out working in the gardens.
After I was able to pick enough to preserve, I snapped off the stem ends and placed them in a metal steamer bowl. When I have a large amount of veggies to preserve, I dig out my tall stock pot with the pan insert that is full of small holes for draining water out. Since I had a small amount of sugar snap peas, I used a large sauce pan that the metal steamer bowl fit inside.
While I was prepping the peas, I boiled water in the saucepan. Once the metal steamer bowl was full of peas, I placed it in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. It is important to not leave the veggies in the boiling water any longer or they will start to cook and lose some of their nutrients.
Then I removed the peas from the boiling water and once the water was drained off immediately placed them in a bowl of cold water with ice cubes to cool off. This quick boil and cool process is called blanching.
Once cool, remove from the cold water and lay out on a towel to dry. When the veggies are dry, place them in plastic bags in the quantity you desire.
When sealing the bags, try to push out as much air as possible. If I have a full bag of veggies, I get out a straw and suck out any air left inside and quickly seal up the bag. The result is like a vacuum sealed bag without the expense of the machine/supplies.
I like to store my small bags of veggies in a large zip freezer bag. This helps to organize them easier in the freezer and also provides a little more protection from freezer burn.
When preserving large amounts of veggies, I write on the baggies in permanent marker the date I preserved them which helps me later in the year to know which veggies to eat first. Once we eat the frozen veggies, I always reuse the plastic bags as another way to live a greener life!
This blanching process can be used for a variety of veggies. Next up for us will be kale, then green beans, kohlrabi, and hopefully some corn from a local farm.
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Debbie says
We have a pretty large amount of sugar snap peas this year. Last year I blanched and froze some of our excess harvest but I found them to be slimy when I starting to use them from the freezer. Is this normal or do you have a way of preventing this from happening. We ended up using them mostly for soups.
Thanks!