How to freeze eggplants for the winter

“Why do people ask - how to freeze eggplants for the winter? There are so many in the store, sold all year round. Now how will I go, how will I buy, how will I cook! ” So that hostess who did not ask the price for vegetables in the winter thinks.

Only here it turns out the vegetable is not blue, but golden. It is very nice. And home to pamper would ...

What is the problem? Conservation has not been canceled. Pall ... Fresh would be ... Pfff, even easier. Long parking at the stove and tedious sterilization of cans are canceled. Resolved - freeze eggplant!

Training

Where are without it? Prior training is always necessary. You can not just take a vegetable and shove it in the freezer. No, in principle, it is possible. Only then it will be unsuitable for food. Have you ever tried a bitter rubber? Freeze the whole eggplant - try.

First you need to wash the vegetable. Or a berry? We will not go into the botanical detailsjust wash the blue well in clean water. Be careful, the stem has very sharp spines!

Then wipe dry. Peel the peeler. That's all, eggplant is ready for further adventures.

Council If the fruit is young, then the peel can be left.

Three pretreatment options

And how do you want? Washed, cleaned and all? Nooo. How to sink and burst. Bitterness clean up who will? Rubber again need to be removed. In total there are three options for follow-up:

• roasting
• blanching
• baking

And for the most lazy there is a little secret written below.

For all methods, you will need to chop eggplants in a convenient way. For the stew - in cubes, for pizza - in rings, for a hot salad - in straws. The next step is removing bitterness. Either in a bowl they are poured with salt for 20 minutes, or in a saucepan poured with cold salted water for the same time. Bitter liquid is poured, it is unsuitable for further use.

While the vegetables give up their bjaku, choose a suitable tray or cutting board. Even thick cardboard or plastic is useful. Cover it with a thick film.You can take a special, which summer residents cover the greenhouses. It is thick and durable. Then they look at will - which is more convenient.

1. Roasting Suitable for packing rings. Prepared vegetables are quickly fried in a pan with a small amount of vegetable oil. Spread on a sieve. As soon as the excess oil cools down, the last stage, common to all three options, begins.
2. Blanching Good for slicing straws. In a wide saucepan boil water. Eggplants poured into a colander or strainer, dipped in boiling water for 4 minutes. Pull out, cool.
3. Baking Ideal for dicing. Eggplants are poured on a baking sheet, lightly sprinkled with favorite vegetable oil. Put in the oven for half an hour at a temperature of 170 ° C. It is advisable to mix the cutting at least once, so that the roasting will be uniform. Cool.

Council Cooled vegetables can be sprinkled with spices, crushed garlic or greens. Then the subsequent cooking will take even less time.

The final stage

Processed fruits are placed on cooked trays or boards in a single layer. Clean the freezer in advance for two hours.This time is enough for the formation of the upper solid crust, so that later the eggplants do not stick together in one monolithic bar. Here will be surprised home, seeing you with a hammer or ax, going to the kitchen - eggplant caviar to do.

As soon as the top layer is grabbed, you can pack the frost in convenient portions. To store such eggplants you need in special plastic containers or bags with clips. The main thing is to close the workpiece very tightly. By themselves, eggplants do not smell, but they absorb wonderful odor.

For complete reliability, an old waste towel is laid under the film in advance. It will allow you to quickly pour the vegetables without fear of tearing the package.

Council In winter, eggplants are best not to thaw, so as not to lose the remnants of vitamins and nutrients. They immediately begin to cook as soon as they are taken out of the container.

The exceptions are the plates for the preparation of rolls. They will have to be thawed to put or spread the stuffing and wrap. But even here there is a little trick: they put the stuffing in advance, roll up the rolls and freeze them entirely.

In winter, without any worries at all - they prepared the sauce, got the billet, put the eggplants in one layer,gone about their business. After 40-45 minutes, they returned to the kitchen, put the resulting delicacy on the plates and that's it.

The promised secret for the lazy
You will need kitchen foil, fresh tomatoes, cheese, a sharp knife, salt water. Washed eggplants peeled. Make vertical cuts not fully. Such plates on a thin substrate come out. Put the billet in salt water for 20-25 minutes. During this time, thin ripe hard tomatoes and cheese are cut into thin slices.

Pull out eggplants, lightly dried. Now - the most interesting! In the cuts put prepared slices of cheese and tomatoes, alternating. Should get a bright caterpillar. Wrap it in two layers of foil and put it in the freezer.

In winter, when the notorious laziness interferes with messing up with dinner, they simply pull out the caterpillar. Foil is not removed, put in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Readiness is simple: “You recognize it by smell ...”

Simply put, they felt a stunning aroma - then they pull it out, gently tear the foil from above. Put a slice of butter or sprinkle with olive. Done!

Council The thickness of the plates when cutting should be 3-5 mm, not more.

Tricks

1. Included with each microwave is stand for simultaneous heating of two dishes. We put this stand on one board with freezing, put the second one on top. Voila! Speed ​​up the process twice!
2. No such thing? Great trouble! Four inverted identical glasses at the corners - is not an improvised stand?
3. For baking, it is better not to use parchment paper, but siliconized paper. Or a silicone mat. Then the vegetables do not stick and easily removed from the pan.
4. There are recommendations to bake the whole blue, then peel and freeze. This is a tip for lovers of bitter dishes. With this method of preparation, it will remain in the vegetable.
5. Fruits contain little moisture, so you can leave fears to get watery rags after defrosting. They perfectly keep their shape in ready meals.
6. In order not to confuse packages with freezing, they always sign them with an indelible marker. Or put inside a piece of paper with a description and date of the bookmark.
7. There is no desire to look for an old towel or a suitable film for freezing? Then, with your laziness, surely in the kitchen there are flexible or folding cutting boards.We pre-freeze them, then pour them quickly and easily into permanent packaging. As a rule, such boards are made of soft food plastic, it is difficult to freeze anything to them.
8. You can store frozen blue for 5 to 7 months. Repeated freezing of vegetables are not subject. Categorically. There is a risk instead of vegetables to get a softling, unpleasant to the taste and in appearance.
9. Very convenient special packages for freezing. They have a sealed "zip-fastener" or a special clip. In addition, there are no micropores in such bags, which will allow storing vegetables for a long time without fear of mixing smells with other frosts.
10. After all the manipulations, the vegetables are slightly reduced in size and darken. This is normal. No botulism here and does not smell. And then we have seen such "literate." It is claimed that this is the beginning of product damage. True, they forget that botulism is a sin of canned food, and not freezing. By the way, freshly prepared eggplants in the fall also do not shine white. They acquire a noble brown shade.
11. Husband is not told about autumn frosts. Spent the day at your pleasure, in the evening quickly got out of the freezer, cooked.As soon as the faithful come home from work, we immediately declare - so tired, so tired, spent the whole day with these eggplants, soaked, boiled, baked ... Well, and further down the list, that’s enough fantasy.
12. Frozen blue while cooking do not salt! They absorbed a sufficient amount of "white poison" at the stage of getting rid of bitterness.

How to freeze eggplants for the winter? It turns out easy! Now, walking with my girlfriend in the winter shopping and hearing from her - blue ones are expensive ... And you want to, you can safely say - let's go to me, I'll treat you freshly.

Video: harvesting eggplants for the winter