In winter, I want to treat myself to fresh vegetables, but in a city apartment there is no place to store them, and in stores it is expensive and sometimes dangerous to health, so the best way to save many vegetables, including carrots, is to make them freshly frozen.

Can carrots be frozen in the freezer

In winter, vegetables are significantly more expensive, and it is impossible to cook soup or borsch without carrots. Here the freezer will come to the rescue, because carrots are perfectly stored in it. If the chamber is with deep freezing, then it can be stored for a whole year and at the same time not lose its appearance, taste and useful properties.

Did you know? The aerial part of this plant is also quite edible. It is added to soups, salads, preservation, and tea.

Cons and pros of frozen carrots

• The undoubted advantages of freezing:
• saving time when cooking dishes;
• You know exactly which carrots were put in the freezer;
• saving money;
• availability all year round.

By cons include the loss of some vitamins and beneficial properties. But still it will be more useful than the store, it is not clear than processed.

Selection and preparation of carrots

For freezing, you need to select large, fresh fruits of juicy varieties. The old, sluggish and hard carrot does not fit. Root crops wash and peel well.

How to freeze carrots

You can pack the finished product in vacuum bags with zippers, which are specially designed for freezing. But they are quite expensive. You can use regular shirt packages. They are half filled and tied. Also, if there is enough space, it is convenient to store in frost-resistant containers. It is definitely impossible to freeze in a glass container, because it bursts at low temperatures.

Important! Be sure to cut off all the green parts - they should not get into the camera, as they accumulate harmful substances and give bitterness.

Cut off the nose and top. Now the vegetable is ready for further processing.

Ways to freeze carrots for the winter at home

There are several ways to harvest carrots by freezing. It can be laid in the camera raw, boiled or in the form of mashed potatoes.

Raw

The easiest way to put raw carrots for the winter. This saves time, and you can use it later in any dish.

Sliced ​​in pieces

You can cut root vegetables as you like more - with cubes, slices, straws, cubes.

After cutting, freezing is carried out in two stages:

1. Dry slices are laid out in a single layer in a chamber drawer and kept for two hours.
2. Frozen vegetables are laid out in the selected container. Out of the bags air is released After that, they are placed in a box.

Whole freeze

The smallest fruits do not make sense. They can be washed, cleaned, dried and sent to the camera in its entirety. In winter, they are useful for soups, stews, broths. Whole carrots can then be chopped or cooked whole.

Important! Although after heat treatment, carrots lose some of the vitamins, it is absorbed by the body better than raw.

Blanched

As you know, blanched vegetables retain color well during subsequent heat treatment. If the carrots are blanched before freezing, then it will take less time to prepare. Prepared root vegetables are cut into cubes, circles or long strips.

Boil water in a saucepan and lower the cut there for 2 minutes. After this time, remove it and immediately lower it into ice water for three minutes. Then dry and put in one layer in the freezer - so it turns out friable. After the cut is frozen, it is packaged in bags and put into boxes.

Grated

The most labor-consuming, but then easier way for the housewives to freeze is to grate the carrots. It is in this form that the vegetable is used most often. It is convenient to cook soups, borscht, stew and even fresh salads from it. It is better to grate the right amount at once and then clean it in the kitchen.

Washed root crops are rubbed on a coarse grater, laid out on trays and allowed to dry out a little.

Did you know? The British farmer Joe Atherton from Nottinghamshire grew a root crop of 5.84 m. This is more than the length of a middle class car.

Then packaged:

• in portions, in small packets;
• into a tight plastic bag, folding into a straw. Then you have to cut it with a knife;
• in vacuum bags.

To make the workpiece friable, it needs to be shredded a couple of hours after being placed in the freezer.

In the form of mashed potatoes

If there are small children in the house, then it is necessary to cook carrots as mashed potatoes before freezing. Boiled vegetable puree with a blender. Then the resulting slurry is laid out in small cups or in ice molds. It is convenient to use such a preparation for complementary foods as an additive in soups or cereals.

How much can frozen carrots be stored

All preparations from this vegetable can be stored for up to 10 months at a temperature of -18 ° C. If the packaging is vacuum and did not open, then this period is extended to 1 year.

How to defrost properly

Depending on how you plan to use the carrots, choose the method of defrosting. If it will be cooking hot dishes - soup or stew, then you can throw it directly from the freezer into the dish and cook it further. For salad, you need preliminary defrosting. Put the required amount in a plate and put in the refrigerator, where the carrots will unfreeze gradually and will not lose its appearance.

Having spent a little time on the preparation of fresh-frozen carrots, you will significantly simplify your life in the winter and provide your family with healthy and tasty dishes. When you take out another orange bag, you will know exactly what quality and taste the vegetable lies there.