How to freeze sorrel for the winter and what to do if there is no place in the freezer?

Sorrel is an unpretentious perennial plant that many grow in summer cottages and household plots. Juicy leaves differ in their original taste “with acidity” and contain many vitamins and minerals necessary to improve digestion and maintain immunity. Therefore, prudent housewives try to freeze sorrel for the winter or prepare greens in some other way, a lot of them have been invented. Frozen sorrel is perfectly stored until the new harvest, which means that you can cook cabbage soup all year, make side dishes and bake pies with green filling and remember about summer.

Choosing sorrel for freezing

With the advent of freezers, many began to abandon the traditional canning in banks. This is understandable: what to do with sterilization, when there is already unbearable heat in the yard, it is better to cut the product into pieces and leave it in the freezer. Moreover, vitamins without heat treatment will remain better.

Almost all vegetables and fruits tolerate freezing well; sorrel is no exception. This plant contains mineral salts, flavonoids, carotene, vitamins C, K, PP, B1, B2, and after freezing, the set of useful substances remains unchanged. The main thing is to choose high-quality greens and process it correctly.

Sorrel is a perennial plant. The first green leaves appear in early June. As soon as they get stronger and gain the required supply of nutrients, you can begin to harvest. You should not wait until the leaves grow to the size of a burdock and change their color to dark green: along with an increase in mass, the content of oxalic acid also increases, excessive consumption of which is undesirable.

Not everyone has the opportunity to independently grow greens for harvesting. There is only one way out - to go to the market or to the greengrocery. When buying, pay attention to several signs.

How to choose a sorrel?

• The leaves should be fresh, bright green, dense and elastic to the touch.
• A torn leaf exudes a specific sour aroma.
• The greens are dry, not sprayed with water.
• Stems not less than 3 cm are left.

Do not buy sorrel if the leaves are covered with dark or light spots. Such a plant was probably incorrectly fed with fertilizers or treated with chemicals from parasites. You should refuse from greens with very dusty leaves, since dust penetrates into the plant tissue and spoils the taste of the product.

Preparation for freezing

Sorrel should be frozen immediately as soon as it is collected from the garden or brought from the store. Before freezing the plant in the freezer, it must be properly prepared.

The preparation process is divided into several stages:

1. It is necessary to carefully sort through the leaves, setting aside sluggish, with obvious damage, uneven coloring. Separate debris and weeds that accidentally fall into the bunches.
2. Rinse greens several times in plenty of water. To do this, take a plastic bowl, fill with cool water and immerse the leaves in it. Gently wash the greens with your hands and spread them in a colander. Pour pure water and wash the sorrel again.
   

   Do not leave greens in the water for a long time, otherwise the leaves will become watery.

3. The washed leaves are laid out on a towel to dry.If the sorrel is not dried, then there will be too much water in the billet.
4. Cut greens into strips or squares, as you wish. When cutting, special attention should be paid to the stems. If they are thick and rough, it is better to get rid of them. Thin fresh stems will not spoil the workpiece, they can be chopped together with leaves.

Having prepared the greens in this way and choosing one of the freezing methods described below, you can begin to work.

How to freeze sorrel for the winter?

There are several ways to freeze sorrel in the freezer. Which one to choose depends on the size of the freezer, the amount of processed product, the purpose of the workpiece and the personal preferences of the hostess.

In packages

It is convenient to use special food bags to store sorrel in the freezer. You can take a regular or with a zip-lock fastener.

The sliced ​​leaves are folded in a dry plastic bag, crushed a little with your hands to release excess air, tied in two knots or fastened and sent to the freezer.

It is not out of place to stick a label with the inscription “sorrel” on the bag so as not to confuse it with other grass in the future and set the year of freezing. The date and month are optional, since the greens can be stored until the new crop.

In disposable containers

If the volume of the freezer allows, instead of bags, you can take disposable plastic containers of 250 ml or 500 ml. The cut greens are placed in a container, closed with a lid and put in a freezer.

In the form of ice cubes

It is very convenient to freeze greens in portioned cubes. To do this, use silicone molds for baking cupcakes or a plastic mold for making ice. Finely chopped greens are crushed with hands to reduce the volume, and laid out on tins. Then, a little cold boiled water is poured into each cell. This can be done with a spoon or teapot.

The forms are placed in the freezer and left for several hours (preferably at night). The cubes should freeze well, otherwise it will be difficult to remove them from the mold. The greens frozen in the form of cubes are shaken out in a bag or container and sent to the freezer for further storage.

Sorrel Puree

This method is similar to the previous one, since it also uses forms for making ice, only here the sorrel is not cut, but crushed in a meat grinder. The output is a watery puree of saturated green color, which is laid out in tins and immediately, without adding water, sent to the freezer. After a few hours, when the greens are thoroughly frozen, ice cubes are unloaded into bags or containers. Such a preparation is useful for preparing meat sauce, green cabbage soup, various sauces and dressings.

Butter freeze

Sorrel frozen with butter is an exquisite preparation for the winter, which is perfect for soup with greens, scrambled eggs or pies. All you need to make oxalic oil cubes at home is butter and finely chopped green leaves.

1. Butter must be removed from the refrigerator in advance and allowed to melt. In no case should you heat the oil on a fire or in the microwave, trying to speed up the process. It’s so easy to break the structure of the product. The oil should soften spontaneously.
2. Finely chopped greens are loaded into a deep bowl and butter is added. The mass is kneaded with a wooden spoon until it becomes homogeneous.
3. The mixture is laid out in cells in ice molds and frozen.

Finished cubes of sorrel and oil are perfectly separated from the walls of the form. They are stacked in separate containers and used in the winter to prepare your favorite dishes.

Frozen Sorrel Sausages

One of the best recipes for preparing sorrel for the winter is freezing in the form of sausages:

1. Straw folded folded in a colander and blanched for 1 minute. If you do not want to pinpoint time, you can navigate by the color of the leaves. As soon as the greens change color, it's time to finish the heat treatment.
2. The colander is removed from the pan, allowed to drain excess water and the greens are cooled to room temperature.
3. Cut the cling film into several pieces. The cooled greens are dumped in the middle of the film, rolled in the form of sausages and placed in the freezer.

To use such a blank, it is not necessary to free from the film and thaw all the greens. It is enough to cut off as much as needed from the sausage, and return the rest to its place.

Cold storage

If you do not have time to get a freezer, you can consider one of the ways to store sorrel in the refrigerator.

In own juice

An excellent recipe for sorrel stocks without water, salt and various seasonings, using heat treatment:

1. Several sterilized glass jars are filled to the top with chopped foliage.
2. The cans are installed in a wide metal basin, which is filled with water so that it reaches the shoulders of the cans.
3. The structure is hoisted on a stove and the water is heated to a boil.
4. Greens under the influence of boiling water will secrete juice, boil and settle. Fresh leaves are added until the jars are full.

Banks are screwed on with lids and put away in the refrigerator or cellar. Thanks to its own juice, the sorrel in the jar does not deteriorate and preserves the main supply of nutrients.

Salt and boiling water

One of the most common methods for harvesting sorrel is to sprinkle with salt. A layer of salt is poured into the bottom of a clean glass jar. Then lay a layer of chopped greens and again sprinkle with salt. This process is repeated until the jar is completely filled with greens sprinkled with salt. Store such a workpiece under plastic covers in the refrigerator.

When using such a sorrel, it is important not to salt the dish, since a considerable amount of salt has already been laid in canned food.

Some housewives believe that salt alone is not enough and the harvest will last longer if boiling water is still poured into the jar. Such a product is ready for use within a year.

Cold water

A very simple and at the same time original preparation, in which only sorrel and cold water are involved. In a clean jar lay leaves of greenery, lightly tamp to fit as much as possible, and fill it with cold water. The jar is corked and refrigerated. Third-party preservatives are not needed, since their role is played by the acid secreted by the leaves.

Nevertheless, freezing sorrel is the easiest and most convenient way to harvest greens for the winter, which allows you to save all the taste and useful properties of the plant. Before cooking, the product does not require defrosting. It is enough to get a couple of green cubes from the bag or grab a handful of leaflets from the container and throw in the pan.