How to freeze cauliflower for the winter: the best recipes

How to properly freeze cauliflower for the winter, we will answer this question in this article. One of the ways to prepare fruits and vegetables for the winter is to freeze them. Cauliflower also keeps well frozen. During the cold season, many dishes with the flavor of summer can be prepared from freshly frozen product. In addition, the vegetable not only has excellent taste, but also has a lot of useful properties. Thanks to the preserved fresh product, you can diversify your diet in winter.

Rules for choosing cauliflower

Today you can find several types of this vegetable in the grocery market:

Pioneer,
Summer resident,
Domestic.

They have some differences:

fruit shape,
color,
leaf size.

The color of cabbage can be pure white or creamy.

When choosing cauliflower for freezing, you need to pay attention to its quality. You cannot buy a vegetable with dark spots. This cabbage is infected with a fungus, so in a few days it will infect the entire head of cabbage. It is better not to eat such a product, as it can cause poisoning.

It is recommended to prepare young vegetables - they have more juice. You can determine the age of cabbage by weight. A young head of cabbage is heavier due to the presence of more juice in it.

How to choose and prepare correctly

Housewives who did not grow the product themselves, but purchased it in a store, should pay attention to its quality and appearance. You can choose a good vegetable based on the following rules:

The vegetable must be clean and there should be no signs of rotting on its surface.
A good product will be white in color, with slight yellowish tints.
It is better to leave cabbage, the inflorescences of which are not adjacent to each other, on the counter and choose another, more dense-looking vegetable.
Take the product in your hands and feel its heaviness. Too light weight, which does not correspond to the size, indicates that growth accelerators were used during cultivation. You shouldn’t expect any special juiciness from such a vegetable.
There is a variety of cauliflower whose inflorescences are green. This is normal, and you should not be afraid of such a vegetable.

Preparing for freezing

Having chosen quality vegetables, we begin to prepare them for freezing. To do this, you need to carry out a certain procedure:

First you need to get rid of possible insect larvae. To do this, place the product in a salt solution: 1 tsp per 1 liter of water.
Now take 0.5 kg of cabbage. Fill the pan with 4 liters of water for blanching. In the absence of a large capacity, this process can be carried out in two passes.

Important! Blanching is short-term cooking in boiling water or steaming with rapid cooling in ice water. Blanch the vegetable in order to remove the unpleasant aftertaste and preserve its color.

The cabbage is immersed in boiling water with the addition of citric acid for a couple of minutes.
At this time, prepare a bowl with cold water into which the head of cabbage is immediately placed after blanching. This action helps preserve all the beneficial substances in cauliflower, juiciness and color.
Then the vegetable needs to be dried well, get rid of leaves and damaged areas and divide the cabbage into inflorescences. Many housewives are interested in whether it is possible to freeze a for the winter . Of course you can. At the same time, it does not lose its properties.

What you can cook: recipes

For a child: cauliflower soup

This is a very healthy and nutritious dish for a child. This soup can be prepared not only with meat, but also with vegetable broth.

We will need the following products:

50 grams of beef pulp;
30 grams of carrots;
5 grams of onion;
60 grams of cauliflower;
A teaspoon of olive oil;
200 milliliters of water.

Place the meat in a saucepan with cold water and put it on the fire.

After boiling, pour out the liquid and rinse the meat with boiled water. The second time, fill the pulp with clean water and cook at a low boil. During the cooking process it is necessary to remove scale.
After an hour, remove the meat and add diced onions and carrots to the prepared broth. Cook the vegetables for ten minutes.
Then add cauliflower. Cook the soup for another five minutes.
Remove the cooked vegetables from the soup and blend together with the meat in a blender.
Add the required amount of broth to the resulting puree, pour in a teaspoon of oil. The soup is ready.

For adults: cauliflower casserole

I want to share a recipe for a very tasty and satisfying casserole.

Required ingredients:

350 grams of cauliflower or broccoli;
150 grams of minced meat;
50 grams of cheese;
One egg;
3 tablespoons sour cream;
One small sweet pepper;
Half a small onion.

Boil frozen inflorescences in salted water for three minutes.

Place the cooked vegetables in a colander and let cool.
Add finely chopped onion, bell pepper, and chilled cabbage to the minced meat. Salt and pepper to taste.
Add finely grated cheese and sour cream to the beaten egg. Pour the resulting mixture into the minced meat. Mix well.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Grease the mold with oil and distribute the minced meat evenly. Cover the top of the form with foil. Bake for half an hour. Then remove the foil and continue cooking for another fifteen minutes.
The finished dish can be sprinkled with herbs.

I advise you to watch the video on how to properly freeze cauliflower.

Now you know how to properly freeze cauliflower at home for the winter; prepared dishes from frozen vegetables will appeal to adults and children. Now you won’t have the question: “Can I give my baby this vegetable?”

Storage rules

Depending on the recipes available, it is recommended to bag a certain amount of vegetables for the desired dish. To prepare puree for a child, you need to pack the cabbage for 1 serving.

Depending on the degree of frost in your freezer, cabbage will have a different shelf life. It is because of this subtlety that many housewives often use a low-quality product.

So, at 6 degrees cold in the freezer, cauliflower can be stored for only 2 weeks. After this period, it loses nutritional value.
At a temperature of -12 degrees, the vegetable is stored for 1.5 months.
At -18 degrees, freezing retains all beneficial qualities for 1 year.

Freezing fresh cabbage

The prepared vegetable is placed in a container or bag, and then in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours. Only after this the head of cabbage is transferred to the freezer, where the reduced temperature is turned on.

An important nuance - to prevent the inflorescences from becoming wrinkled, you do not need to compact them. Post freely.

in bulk

It is very convenient to keep cauliflower, disassembled into inflorescences, in one bag or container. However, repeated freezing will harm the vegetable, so the branches should not stick together into one massive bracket. To do this, they are laid out on a tray or plate so that they do not touch each other, frozen for 2-6 hours and, already hardened, poured into a common container.

The best recipes for freezing cauliflower for the winter

Cauliflower can be stored for the winter in special bags or barrels.

To do this you need:

head of cabbage;
salt;
large capacity;
ziplock bags.

Cooking technology:

Peel the vegetable from the leaves and divide it into inflorescences. To prepare cauliflower in batter, it is better to select medium-sized pieces. Vegetables for borscht or stew must be cut into small portions up to 3-4 cm long.
Place the head of cabbage in a saucepan with cold and salted water for 5 minutes. Then divide it into inflorescences and place on a dry towel to dry.
We put the product into the prepared bags and remove all the air.

Advice! To completely release the air from the bag, you can insert a cocktail straw into it and suck out the remaining air. Then quickly close the zipper.

Don't forget to mark the calculated shelf life of the product on the package.

Watch the video! How to freeze cauliflower for the winter

Blanched cabbage in salted water

Prepare:

cabbage – 1 piece;
salt;
large capacity;
dry towel.

Blanching procedure:

Rinse the vegetable with your hands under running cold water to remove any dust.
Then trim the foliage, remove the stem, and cut the inflorescences into equal pieces. In this case, the blanching procedure will be carried out efficiently.
For 0.5 kg of cabbage you need to prepare a 4 liter container of water; you can blanch the vegetables in two batches.
Place the head of cabbage in boiling water and cover with a lid. After boiling again, add salt to the water and wait 3 minutes. The vegetable is in a state of semi-preparedness.
We take out the cabbage and quickly lower it into a pan of cold water. To lower the temperature of the water, put ice in it or keep it in the refrigerator. In this case, the vegetable will retain its taste, juiciness and original color.
It is important to dry all the inflorescences well before freezing.

Freezing cauliflower and broccoli without cooking

If you are thinking about the best way to freeze cauliflower with greater benefits, you can prepare an assortment by adding broccoli to it. In winter, you can prepare soup, stew, and also a dish of fresh vegetables to feed your baby. The assortment can be prepared by blanching or without boiling. For this we will prepare:

head of cauliflower – 1;
broccoli – 1;
salt;
capacity;
dry cloth.

Preparing for freezing

Rinse the vegetables well under running water. This way you can get rid of not only dust and insects, but also reduce the amount of pesticides.
Cut off all foliage, spoiled and heavily contaminated areas from vegetables.
Remove the stem from cauliflower and broccoli.
Divide the vegetables into small pieces in accordance with the recipes for dishes that will be prepared in the winter.
Add salt to a large container with boiled water, place cauliflower and broccoli there, keep for 30 minutes. This will help get rid of the larvae of various insects.
Place the vegetables on a dry towel and dry them thoroughly. Droplets of moisture can damage products during storage.
Distribute the assortment into several bags or containers, depending on the required portions for preparing dishes.

Choosing containers: what to look for?

Choosing the right container for freezing is no less important than preparing the vegetable itself for long-term storage.

Packaging requirements:

compactness;
tightness.

A good option is plastic containers with lids or special bags designed for the freezer. This packaging is adapted to low temperature conditions and does not become fragile when frozen.

Ordinary plastic bags become brittle at low temperatures and can tear. Rectangular containers are more compact than round ones.

When choosing containers, you should consider how much vegetable is needed to prepare one dish. Based on this, the required container volume is determined.

Defrosting rules

To make frozen cauliflower dishes tasty, you must follow the defrosting rules.

A bag of vegetables taken out of the freezer must be used up on the same day. Add to baby food or omelet. It is not recommended to send the product back to the freezer, as it already loses its beneficial qualities.
Before preparing the dish, the cabbage does not need to be blanched additionally. This procedure was done before freezing.
Also, it is necessary to remember that such a vegetable cooks much faster than a fresh one. Considering this, it is better to send the cauliflower to the pan at the end of cooking. Then the vegetable will not turn into mush.
To prepare vegetable puree for your baby, cabbage can be added with other ingredients to obtain a homogeneous mass.

Watch the video! How to freeze cauliflower correctly - health benefits

In creamy sauce

Frozen cauliflower can be baked very quickly and deliciously according to a simple recipe in a slow cooker, using a minimal set of ingredients for cooking or adding any vegetables and spices to it.

Frozen cauliflower. Recipe for cooking in cream sauce.

Preparation next.

Composition of ingredients

For this recipe you need to prepare the ingredients:

The basis	Products	Quantity
	Frozen Cauliflower	500 g
	Butter or vegetable oil	35 g
Spices	Salt	2-3 pinches
	Ground black pepper	0.5 tsp.
	Ground turmeric	0.5 tsp.
	Hot red pepper	1 pinch
	Nutmeg	2-3 pinches
Sauce	Milk or cream	250 ml
	Sour cream	40 g
	Raw chicken egg	1 PC.
Additionally	Hard spicy cheese	50 g
	Onion	1 PC.
	Carrot	1 PC.
	Garlic	2-3 slices

Step-by-step cooking process

When using additional ingredients, it is necessary to fry onion cubes and peeled carrot strips in the oil of a multicooker bowl, add salt and bring to softness.

Further:

Now you need to place the frozen cauliflower inflorescences in the oil, season with salt and spices, and, if desired, sprinkle evenly with grated cheese and crushed garlic.
Next, in a separate deep bowl, you need to shake a raw chicken egg with salt and spices, add sour cream, and then dilute with milk or cream until smooth.
After this, you need to evenly pour the egg-milk mixture over the vegetables and cheese in the multicooker bowl, close the lid and set the baking mode for about half an hour.

What can I add?

You can not pre-fry the vegetables, but lay them out in layers along with frozen cabbage and cheese, then cooking the dish will take even less time.

How to serve a dish

Prepared vegetables should be removed in layers and placed on portioned plates, garnished with grated cheese or fresh herbs.

The cabbage darkened in the refrigerator. The benefits of sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is a real healer for many diseases due to its high content of various vitamins.
Surprisingly, sauerkraut has long been used even in folk medicine. Not only the vegetable itself, but also its brine has special properties. Below are the beneficial properties of sauerkraut:

Vitamin “bomb”. The leading component is Vitamin C. Its role in strengthening the immune system and maintaining the strength of our body has long been known to everyone. In addition, pickled vegetables contain vitamins A, B, K and PP, as well as essential microelements such as calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, phosphorus and, of course, iodine.
Healing acid. In addition to increasing the level of immunity, sauerkraut has a major effect on the stomach. The acid contained in the brine prevents diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, gastritis, indigestion and has a beneficial effect on digestion. It is believed that consuming this product half an hour before each meal reduces the risk of stomach disease and improves its microflora.

Activation of the action of vitamins occurs due to oxidation, which is why sauerkraut is healthier than raw cabbage. Also, after fermentation, fiber is destroyed, which contributes to better absorption of the product by the body.

Did you know? It is also known about the rejuvenating properties of cabbage “miracle brine”. Thanks to the high concentration of calcium, potassium, vitamin A and nicotinic acid, cabbage juice is considered a real “elixir of youth”, which affects the condition of the skin, the strength of hair, nails and vision.

Nutritionists say that this product is able to reduce blood sugar and cholesterol levels, which explains its popularity among people with diabetes. Possessing unique properties and low calorie content, sauerkraut has won the love of even the most fastidious gourmets.

As far as I know from my wife, in order to cook cauliflower, it is thoroughly washed, cut into small florets and soaked in salted water for 10 minutes.

Which freezing method to choose

Inexperienced housewives and pp-ers always have a lot of questions related to the process of freezing this vegetable - is it necessary to blanch cauliflower before freezing or is it better to cook it, how to freeze cauliflower so that it does not darken and lose its taste, how to make it so that remove the unpleasant smell of boiled vegetables...
I’ll say right away - no dancing with tambourines is needed in this matter! Everything is logical and understandable

There are few recipes for freezing cauliflower for the winter - already boiled, blanched or raw inflorescences are sent to the freezer.

Each method has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.

Freeze raw. Is it possible and how?

Freezing raw cauliflower or broccoli is the fastest way to prepare for the winter, but it has many disadvantages. After defrosting, the vegetable will still have to be boiled, and the taste may deteriorate. This especially often happens if the freezer or refrigerator does not have a No Frost system and antibacterial protection. The damp one will take up a little more space.

The process can be described in two phrases:

pour the prepared (washed, dried) inflorescences into a bag;
we put it on the shelf in the freezer.

You can freeze it by first laying it out on a plate and then packing it in a bag. It’s convenient to do this if you prepare vegetable mixtures, combining, for example, zucchini, carrots, green peas - you get an excellent ready-made base for delicious soups and stews.

Freeze boiled cauliflower

This preparation recipe is considered a classic.

It is convenient, simple and straightforward - before you freeze cauliflower or broccoli in the freezer, you need to cook it.

Then it’s easy to use this already cooked one.

How to do:

Boil water in a deep saucepan, add salt and acid. With lemon, cauliflower will not darken, and its taste will not change.
Place the prepared inflorescences in boiling water. Decide for yourself how long to cook cauliflower before freezing - 5 minutes is enough (it turns out crispier). If it’s 10 minutes, then after defrosting you can even eat it right away, adding it, for example, to some salads.
We put the boiled workpiece in a colander, let the water drain, cool and put it on the freezer shelves, packing it in containers or bags.

Why do you need to boil the water first and then just lower the inflorescences? This way, less nutrients will go into the broth.

Blanching method

Freezing with preliminary blanching is the optimal solution.

How to blanch:

The process at first resembles boiling - boil water, add salt and acid.
We lower the prepared cauliflower or broccoli inflorescences.
But then it’s different. After boiling again, cook for no longer than 3 minutes.
At this time, fill a separate bowl with cold water and add ice.
We remove the boiled inflorescences from boiling water with a slotted spoon and immediately transfer them to cold water.
After 2 minutes, place the cooled pieces on a towel and then freeze.

It is better to cook broccoli and cauliflower in enamel pans - their coating is inert and will not react in any way to the acids contained in them.

It is better to store frozen vegetables in the freezer for no longer than 9 months, then both the beneficial and taste properties deteriorate.

Before you cook frozen cauliflower, it is not necessary to defrost it, unless you will be frying it in batter (which is not very suitable for pp-shnik).

Cauliflower is one of the richest vegetables in vitamins and mineral salts. It has virtually no contraindications and goes well with other products, including meat and fish. Young mothers often give cauliflower as the first food to their infants, and people with gastrointestinal problems know how positively the vegetable affects the entire digestive system. It is perfectly digestible, does not cause allergic reactions and retains its unique beneficial properties for a long time. Cabbage is low in calories, so it can be consumed by people on the strictest diet. Knowing how to freeze cauliflower for the winter, you can eat tasty and healthy at the same time during the cold season.

Can this vegetable be frozen?

Cauliflower can be frozen like most other vegetables . Frozen products contain more vitamin C, which is responsible for the elasticity of the skin in our body, than fresh ones. The amount of vitamin C in a frozen product is fixed at the time of freezing.

Also, there is less vitamin B9, the deficiency of which in the body leads to depression, in fresh cabbage than in frozen cabbage. Fresh “curly” inflorescence loses most of its beneficial properties during transportation from several weeks to several months and when left on the store counter for a long time.

The same thing happens with any fresh product that is not grown in your own garden - the loss of about 50% of nutrients during the long journey to the dinner table.

Do I need to defrost before cooking?

Due to the constant lack of time among modern housewives, frozen cabbage purchased at the store counter is a frequent guest on our table. The manufacturer's instructions for this product indicate that pre-defrosting cauliflower is not required .

ATTENTION : If purchased cabbage is defrosted, a large amount of beneficial substances lose their potency. If the product was grown in your own garden beds, then both when frozen and when properly defrosted, the beneficial properties of the product remain in the vegetable.