How to freeze carrots for the winter: tips

According to statistics, in winter a person rarely goes to the store, buys fewer products. And all because in the winter time the products going from summer go to the expense. These are marinades, compotes, jams, jams, salads. And most importantly, frozen fruits and vegetables. When buying them at the height of the summer season, we spend a penny on them than if we took them in the winter. In addition, frozen fruits and vegetables do not lose their beneficial properties - they fully preserve all the vitamins and minerals. Today we will talk about carrots - how to properly prepare it for freezing, how to freeze it and how to safely defrost this vegetable.

The benefits of carrots for the human body

Carrots are carotene that a growing body needs. That is why carrots are considered to be a vegetable for high growth. But that this carotene is well digested,It must be taken with vegetable oil. The perfect combination is a vegetable salad with carrots, seasoned with a spoon of sunflower oil.

Carrots are incredibly good for eye health. It contains a lot of vitamin A, the deficiency of which can cause blindness in a person. For diabetics, boiled carrots are helpful, even more than raw ones. Red carrot reduces cholesterol in the blood, strengthens the walls of blood vessels - makes them more elastic. Red carrots have a lot of potassium, which is good for the heart.

And carrots are coarse dietary fibers that are not fully processed, swell in the intestines and, like a large, hard brush, clean out all unnecessary and stagnant feces. This is an excellent remedy for constipation. In addition, carrots absorb all the toxins and slags, cleansing the body completely.

Carrots are not only eaten - they are used externally. Carrot gruel perfectly heals wounds and ulcers, relieves inflammation and redness. And masks with grated carrots are rightfully considered the best against aging and sagging skin.

Why freeze carrots

Indeed, why, if all year round it is on sale? As noted above, the first reason is savings. In winter, vegetables, including carrots, are much more expensive. In addition, you do not know in what conditions they were stored. Often, a producer processes roots with chemical compounds, so that they do not spoil and look good for a long time. Giving the artificial gloss of carrots, the seller deprives of its useful properties. Such root crops can be not only useless, but also dangerous - you do not know how they were stored and what they were treated with.

The second reason to freeze carrots is to save time. Now you will not need to clean the carrot every time, wash it, cut it into the necessary pieces. Now you can just get it and add the right amount of the finished product to the ready dish. Very tempting, is not it?

In general, carrots, of course, can be stored fresh. In this case, it should be placed in a cool basement or a glazed balcony. It is important to choose a suitable temperature so that the carrots do not freeze and rot. It is necessary to take into account the humidity of the room so that the fruits do not dry out and are not covered with mold.Keep in mind that if it is too warm, the carrots will begin to grow, giving away all the nutritional juices to useless sprouts. In a city apartment, there is hardly anyone who has a clean dark basement with optimal humidity and temperature. That is why it is much more convenient to freeze carrots - I patted once and forgot about the problem of storage. It remains only to get the carrots as needed from the freezer and use it for its intended purpose.

How to freeze carrots

To freeze you need to take fresh root vegetables, it is better if they are from the garden. If you freeze carrots from the market, you can make sure of its freshness by the leaves - if it is green and not dead - the carrots have been collected quite recently. It is best to freeze the spring carrots - it is more juicy and sweet.

1. Root vegetables need to be washed and dried thoroughly. Wet carrots will stick together, it will be difficult to take in the right quantity, if you freeze everything in one container.
2. You can not clean a young carrot - its skin is very delicate and thin. Ripe carrots should be peeled.
3. Now sit down and think that you are cooking carrots. From this depends on the form of cutting this vegetable.Often, carrots are used in different dishes, and therefore are cut differently. Cut some carrots into strips - it is suitable for pilaf, make carrot circles - they will do when you cook roasts. Diced carrots can be used to add to the soup. For borscht carrots can be grated. Want to save time? Mix grated carrots with beets and add these blanks to borsch in winter.
4. If you want to save even more time, you can blanch the carrots before freezing. In this case, the carrot will be almost ready - it will cook when added to the dish much faster. Dip the chopped carrots in boiling water for 3 minutes, then transfer it to a bowl of ice water. Such a temperature difference will not allow the vegetable to turn into a porridge - the slices will remain whole. Then flip the vegetables into a colander to drain the excess water.
5. Now carrots should be packaged. You can break up the vegetables into several packets — one with straws, the other with grated carrots, and the third with circles. However, in this case, with each preparation, you will have to pick out the right amount of vegetable, and place the rest in the refrigerator again.Such temperature drops badly affect the benefits of the product, so it is better to freeze carrots in portions. Pack all carrots in small bags so that for one dish only one portion was needed. By the way, it is convenient to freeze grated carrots with beets for borsch in cake molds. When the vegetables are frozen, they can simply be put in a bag.
6. Such carrots can be stored for up to a year. But you do not need to freeze too much, enough to last until the next harvest.
7. Carrots do not need to be defrosted. Just take the right bag from the freezer and drop it into the dish.

This is a simple algorithm for freezing carrots that will save you time and money.

How to freeze boiled carrots

Carrots can be frozen in any form - boiled, stewed, fried. Boiled carrots are most often frozen by young moms who have small children. Carrots are a great complement, but children eat little. You will not boil each time for half a carrot? To save time, we will freeze the boiled carrots. Pour water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil.Water should be low, so that it slightly covered roots. Salt for cooking is not added (if the carrot is intended for a child). Dip carrots in boiling water and cook for 20-30 minutes until cooked. When the vegetables are soft, they need to get, cool and peel off the thin skin.

Vegetables are cut into several parts and divided into packages so that at one time defrost only one portion. In order not to lose the good of the product, it needs to be defrosted properly. Transfer the carrot portion from the freezer to the shelf of the refrigerator and leave it there for several hours until it is completely thawed. And only then put the carrots in the microwave and heat to the desired temperature. If you defrost carrots immediately in the microwave, a sharp temperature drop will kill all the vitamins, the vegetable will become useless. After warming the boiled carrot, it should be kneaded, if desired, add a drop of vegetable oil. From such a tasty and healthy treat will not refuse any peanut.

Remember, you can not re-freeze carrots. And when you remove carrots for storage in the freezer, tightly tie the neck of the bag so that the vegetable does not absorb foreign odors.

Carrots are a unique root vegetable. It is added to soups, hot dishes, salads and pickles.No winter salad can do without carrots, it is needed for sauerkraut. Moreover, carrots are made with delicious desserts and jams - in Europe it is generally considered not a vegetable, but a fruit. Even the young tops of carrots are used - they add it to various snacks and salads. Eat carrots in a different form, gnaw it raw, freeze. And then your dishes will always be decorated with bright pieces of juicy carrots!

Video: harvesting carrots for the winter