How to freeze spinach for the winter - benefit all winter

Fresh spinach is not stored for a long time, it will lie in the refrigerator for a maximum of 14 days. To keep the summer crop vitamin and tasty, use the freezer.

How to freeze spinach for the winter at home, so that it retains vitamins and rich color? The options are very different: bunches, sliced, mashed potatoes, blanched greens and a mixture with butter.

Whole leaf freezing

How to freeze spinach in a household freezer:

1. Select only healthy greens. The leaves should be evenly painted, without rot and other damage. Give preference to young medium-sized leaves collected before the first flowering - they will not have bitterness. If you buy spinach in the market, then discard unnaturally shiny greens covered with wax.
2. Before any kind of freezing, spinach must be thoroughly washed. Even if this is your garden plant, dust still accumulates on it.
3. Inspect the leaves, if there are coarse stems, it is better to cut them off.
4. Lay the washed spinach on a towel and let dry. Blot the leaves with napkins to speed drying. This is a mandatory step, because water will turn into an ice crust, spoil the shape of spinach and its taste.
5. Spread the leaves into plastic bags, containers or trays. Make convenient portions to use them gradually. One package - one dish.
6. To prevent greens from being damaged, stack them in piles or roll several in a roll.
7. Try to keep as little air as possible in the container.
8. If you will freeze roll, pay attention to the cling film. Wrap spinach several times. Such portions will not take up much space in the freezer.
9. Hide the workpiece in the freezer.

The shelf life of fresh leaves in the freezer reaches 1 year, if the device constantly maintains a temperature of –18 degrees. But the most delicious and healthy spinach is the one that has been in the cold for no longer than 3-4 months.

Chopped spinach

Thawed leaves are harder to cut than fresh. Take care of this in advance: let the aromatic cut wait in the freezer of your time.

How to cook:

1. Collect the spinach and rinse thoroughly, changing the water several times.
2. Dry the leaves.
3. Take a pack of leaflets, roll them into a tube and cut them into strips up to 1 cm wide.
4. Prepare convenient containers for storage, distribute spinach slices over them, close them tightly and send them for storage.

Tip
purityis.decorexpro.com/en/ magazine draws the attention of its readers that shock freezing allows you to maintain the shape, taste and color of spinach. When removed from the camera, it will be very similar to fresh.

Puree Cubes

Freezing is not only the preservation of products, but also a convenient way to reduce the cooking time. Stocks for the winter is an unwritten collection of recipes. The hostess will not have to rack her brains and run to the supermarket for the missing products: everything is already at hand in a semi-finished form.

Spinach puree is a good base for soup, pastry toppings, nutritious green smoothies, vegetable cutlets, etc.

How to make and freeze mashed potatoes, recipe:

1. To get mashed potatoes from spinach, prepare leaflets in the standard way. When they dry, place everything in a blender and chop to the desired extent.
2. Some housewives make a more liquid mass by adding water to the leaves.
3. Pour the pureed greens with a spoon over the ice tins. You can take containers for sweets and cookies, in silicone connectors it also turns out well. Cute mashed pieces will appeal to children.
4. When the whole mass has hardened, remove from its molds and transfer to portioned packets. Use containers for the next batch of mashed potatoes.

Tip
If the pieces of mashed potatoes are severely frozen in the trays, then let them thaw a little.

Mashed potatoes are suitable for diet and baby food. To prepare larger portions, take plastic cups, containers with lids, packages from cottage cheese, milk or yogurt.

Blanching

The fundamental difference in the preparation of spinach in this way - it takes up less space and retains its rich color. Short boiling also removes oxalate from the composition. Blanched spinach cooks faster. The only negative is the loss of some vitamins under the influence of boiling water.

How to properly prepare spinach for the winter by blanching:

1. Selection and purification - as described above.
2. It is not necessary to grind the product; both whole leaves and sliced ​​blanch.
3. Prepare a convenient colander.
4. Boil water in a saucepan.
5. Dip the spinach greens in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.
6. Now take the colander and put it in a basin of ice water. Spinach should be cooled as quickly as possible.
7. An alternative blanching option is to pour boiling water over the leaves rather than boiling.
8. Next, you need to let the water drain and dry the leaves a little.
9. Blanched leaves are rolled up in bunches, balls or sausages. Spread the servings evenly on a flat dish and freeze.
10. After a couple of hours, when the spinach hardens, pack it in bags or storage containers.

Tip
Defrosting spinach is carried out gradually. If the dish is cooked, stewed or baked, then waiting for thawing is not necessary. Add ice spinach to cold cocktails, and thawed to salads and toppings.

Spinach is known for blending well with many foods. It is almost tasteless, but it improves various dishes. It is better to store spinach, as well as other vegetables and greens in a separate compartment. If you place the product next to fish or meat, it absorbs their smell.

Spinach in oil

A very tasty addition to cereals and vegetables is spinach slices in butter. Recipe:

1. Grind greens with a knife or blender.
2. Soften the butter to room temperature.
3. Combine the butter and spinach.
4. Distribute in small tins and freeze.

Use spinach to make green soups, vitamin salads, stewed vegetable mixes, pie fillings and flavored smoothies. The more different frosts, the more varied the winter menu.