Freezing vegetables and herbs is a widespread practice. Why should we freeze vegetables? - first of all, the method is used for seasonal vegetables; the second reason is to replenish stock in case we can’t go for shopping frequently and have to make stock for few weeks; The third reason is to store excess products that was left, as you could not use them all. In any case, you need to follow several rules to freeze vegetables and herbs.

Asparagus, corn, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, green peas can be perfectly frozen. Carrots, celery, onions, sweet peppers, pumpkin can be chilled, however, they are also stored in the fridge for a long time as well.

Preparation of vegetables for freezing consists of several stages: blanching, cooling, packing.

What is blanching and why do we cook vegetables before freezing? - Freezing damages the cells in raw vegetables, after thawing the vegetables are soft and produces fluid. To avoid all this, the vegetables should be boiled in water for 2-3 minutes or on a steam bath, then cooled and packaged in a frost-resistant container or in a lockable plastic bag. The second method is to freeze the blanched vegetables on a plate separately and then mix them in a container. In this case all the pieces are separated and easy to use.

Vegetables stored in this way retain vitamins, vivid color and crispiness.

Herbs can be frozen in oil or as ice cubes. Cut the herbs, put them in an ice cube container, fill ¾ and stuff them well, pour boiling water and freeze, replace the frozen cubes into container. You can also freeze purple basil, basil, coriander, parsley using this method.