How to freeze sorrel for the winter: tips

Summer is the season of harvesting, many housewives try to prepare as many marinades, jams and compotes as possible for the winter. If our mothers kept vegetables and fruits only through canning, then we have a great opportunity to keep the product in its original form, just by freezing it. One of these necessary and useful products is sorrel. When frozen, it does not lose its beneficial properties, oxalic acid becomes richer and less aggressive for the stomach. Frozen sorrel is a quick way to cook borscht or soup, to make a pie filling. To this useful greens was always at your fingertips, you need to know how to freeze them properly.

The use of sorrel

Sorrel contains a huge amount of vitamin C, which is very important during the period of flu and colds. Sorrel improves the absorption of iron, which contributes to the elevation of hemoglobin in the blood.Sorrel improves the digestive tract, in small doses can act as a remedy for diarrhea, and in large doses - as a laxative. Sorrel is recommended for use in gastritis with a small release of gastric juice. In ancient times, sorrel was used to treat heart disease. A decoction of this green helps to get rid of rheumatism and back pain. With some poisoning sorrel can be an antidote. This herb has analgesic, anti-inflammatory and hemostatic properties. Sorrel is very useful for mature women during menopause - it normalizes hormones, eliminates sweating, and eliminates headaches. Sorrel is a real salvation in the spring, when the body suffers from a lack of vitamins.

How to freeze sorrel

For freezing for the winter you need to take only fresh and whole leaves. Ideally, the greens just picked from the beds are frozen.

1. All leaves need to be sorted - we remove all the yellow, rotten and wormy leaves, leaving only healthy, green and whole.
2. Fill the sorrel with cold water and leave for 5 minutes. Then rinse each leaf and put the greens in a colander so that the excess water is glass. Then put the sorrel on a clean kitchen towel or paper towel.
3. It is very important to dry sorrel enough, otherwise excess water can interfere with long-term storage of the product. After half an hour, you need to sort out the sorrel and cut off all the stems at the root - we will only freeze the leaves.
4. Cut the sorrel across the leaves as you used to do for cooking. Remember that after defrosting you will not be able to chop the greens. It is better to immediately cut the sorrel into the desired pieces.
5. Now the sorrel must be frozen. You can put greens in sealed plastic containers, vacuum or ordinary plastic bags. In order to save space in the freezer, the sorrel must be wrung slightly. So it will take much less space.
6. It is most convenient to freeze sorrel in small packets, in portions. That is, you do not have to pick out a certain amount of sorrel with a knife from a large container. Just take one sachet and use it to prepare one serving of the dish. In addition, you do not have every time to get all the sorrel, which can lose its beneficial properties with frequent temperature changes.
7. For sorrel to be useful, you do not need to throw an icy piece of frozen greens in the dish that you got from the freezer.It is much more correct to defrost the greens on the shelf of the refrigerator and only then add it to the dishes. So sorrel will not lose the lion's dose of vitamin C.

This is the easiest way to freeze sorrel, which will help preserve the taste and benefits of the product.

How to freeze sorrel for borscht

Borsch is the most popular dish made from sorrel. Therefore, some housewives frozen sorrel in finished form, so that it was convenient to add to the soup. For freezing, you can use not only sorrel, but also nettles, parsley, and other greens that you usually add to borscht. Remember, greens (especially nettles) need to be collected away from highways and roads, so that the product is safe and useful.

Nettles need to be washed and remove the leaves from the stem. Sorrel and other herbs are also thoroughly washed and sorted. After this, finely chop the workpiece and fill it with boiling water. After 5-10 minutes the water can be drained and put the greens in small molds. These can be silicone cupcake molds, an ice freezer, even simple cups or portion containers.When the blanks are frozen in the refrigerator, it is very easy to remove them from the dish and put them in the bag. If necessary, when you cook borshch again, simply take out a “piece” of greens and add to the pan 10 minutes before readiness. A fragrant dish with a summer smell is already on your table! Putting the rest of the greens in the refrigerator, tightly tie the package so that the sorrel does not absorb foreign odors.

What to cook from frozen sorrel

Many housewives use sorrel only for cooking green borscht. But in fact, this product is used in many recipes.

1. Everyone knows rich sorrel soup with egg. This savory dish with a slight sourness has a delicate taste and rich aroma.
2. If you fry defrosted sorrel in a frying pan and mix it with chopped boiled egg, you get an amazing filling for fried pies.
3. Mix sorrel with boiled rice - the filling for the fast pie is ready.
4. If you add herbs and cheese to sorrel, you get a savory French salad.
5. Sorrel is added to various beverages, such as lemonade or smoothies. It gives cocktails a special sourness.

In general, recipes with sorrel very much. And if this greenery grows in your garden, do not neglect it, add sorrel to various dishes.

Sorrel goes well with meat and fish dishes. In ancient times, women believed that if they ate a lot of sorrel, they would become pregnant as a boy. It is best to use and freeze young sorrel - it is more tender and has more useful components. Eat and harvest sorrel for the winter - take care of your health!

Video: conservation of sorrel for the winter