_by Annetta Cook_[10]
The growing season brings an abundance of fruits and vegetables freshly
harvested from your garden. The unmatchable sweetness of peas cooked
fresh from the pods, the tender-crisp texture of fresh broccoli, the
delectable flavor of sweet juicy strawberries are irresistible. It is
always a disappointment when the growing season is over. You may have
more produce than you were able to use within a short time, so why not
savor its just-picked freshness during the autumn and winter
months--freeze it!
Of all the methods of home food preservation, freezing is one of the
simplest and least time-consuming. The natural colors, fresh flavors,
and nutritive value of most fruits and vegetables are maintained well by
freezing. However, to freeze foods successfully--that is, to preserve
their quality--produce must be carefully selected, prepared and
packaged, and properly frozen. Be sure to use reliable home-freezing
directions such as those found in U.S. Department of Agriculture
publications. Unless recommended practices and procedures are observed,
the food's eating quality will be a disappointment.
The first consideration before deciding whether to freeze the garden's
harvest is whether your freezer can maintain temperatures low enough to
preserve quality of the food during freezer storage. Storage
temperatures must be 0° F (-18° C) or below to help prevent unfavorable
changes in the food, including growth of bacteria. The temperature
control of your freezer should be adjusted so the warmest spot in the
freezer will always be at 0° F or lower. Freezers and most two-door
refrigerator-freezer combinations are best suited for long storage of
home-frozen fruits and vegetables since they can be set to maintain this
temperature.
Proper preparation of produce is also important to insure high eating
quality of frozen vegetables and fruits. Vegetables, except green
peppers and mature onions, maintain better quality during freezer
storage if blanched, or heated briefly, before freezing.
Blanching is necessary to prevent development of off-flavors,
discoloration, and toughness in frozen vegetables. Besides stopping or
slowing down the action of enzymes responsible for these undesirable
changes, blanching also softens the vegetable, making it easier to pack
into containers for freezing.
Fruit does not need to be blanched before freezing. However, most fruits
require packing in sugar or sirup to prevent undesirable flavor and
texture changes in the frozen product. Sugar, either alone or as part of
the sirup, plus the acidity of fruit retards enzyme activity in fruit
stored at 0° F or below.