Freezing vegetables for stock

[Talal]

Hello ,


Im curious as to the members thoughts on this topic. Ive got a whole bunch of extra celery and green onions which id like to chop up and freeze for my next stock batch.. is this ok to do? ive read that you must blanch them before hand but i prefer to retain the full flavour ..

any thoughts or experiences??

Thank you

 

[barrycv]

My first thought on this is why freeze the veggies? Wouldn't it be easier to make the stock now & then freeze that?

 

[YetiDave]

My first thought on this is why freeze the veggies? Wouldn't it be easier to make the stock now & then freeze that?

^ this

But I wouldn't bother blanching onions or celery before freezing

 

[Luc]

I do that with chicken. Often the grocery store sell for cheap the back of the chicken. I get something like 4 pieces for $4 which contain bones, skin, a bit of meat and a bit of kidney, liver sometimes. I use one in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes and I throw in a few veggies. You could freeze your veggies, that should be an issue to make a veggie broth... I don't blanch my veggies...

 

[Talal]

My first thought on this is why freeze the veggies? Wouldn't it be easier to make the stock now & then freeze that?

i have made the stock now, but i have lots of left over celery and green onions which i dont want to keep buying over and over. they sell them in rather large bunches that id prefer not to use in that amount in 1 batch of stock.! 1 only make stock from 1 carcass from a leftover roast ...

I hope that clears it up!

But yea most my research shows that for celery and such its prefered to blanch them before freezing for stocks? (mind you they are all cut up) . that didnt sound right to me..

Either way i dont think freezing would affect the flavour too much for this purpose eh? speaking strictly celery and green onions!

 

[tinashubby]

Since you are blanching rather than cooking the veggies, I'd say the flavor will be fine. Go for it.
I froze about 6 gallons of tomatoes from the garden for use this winter, drop in boiling water for 30 seconds, drop in cold water a few minutes, peel and freeze.

 

[zethreal]

I've frozen diced peppers, onions, celery & such for soups before and have never blanched them.

If you don't have one, invest in a cheap vacuum bag setup ( you can get the 'Glad' quart or gallon bags ). They're basically a thicker ziplock style bag with a 1-way valve and a hand pump. I'd just load the veggies into that & pump out the air! That should remove chances of freezer burn. if you're *still* worried about freezer burn, just fill the bag with veggies & then cover them with water before sealing & removing the air. I do the same trick with fish - the added benefit with the veggies is that you don't have to thaw them before making the stock, just cut away the bag & dump the whole ice block into the pot!

 

[DeusVult]

Since you are blanching rather than cooking the veggies, I'd say the flavor will be fine. Go for it.
I froze about 6 gallons of tomatoes from the garden for use this winter, drop in boiling water for 30 seconds, drop in cold water a few minutes, peel and freeze.

If you're going to use them for soup or sauce, just throw them in the freezer with the skins on, loose in a freezer bag. When you take them out to thaw for your dish, once they start to thaw, the skins slip right off. Works great.

 

[DeusVult]

Regarding freezing vegetables for stock, I wouldn't chop them very small. Large chunks are better. I wouldn't mess with blanching. What I recommend is just chunking up your vegetables to fit in whatever container you have, then covering with water and freezing the whole works. When ready to make stock, throw the whole block of ice and vegetables into your pot and start cooking. These veggies are going to be cooked to death for stock anyway, so appearance doesn't matter. Blanching preserves more of the structure and color, but if covered in water without blanching, you won't get freezer burn.

 

[Talal]

Regarding freezing vegetables for stock, I wouldn't chop them very small. Large chunks are better. I wouldn't mess with blanching. What I recommend is just chunking up your vegetables to fit in whatever container you have, then covering with water and freezing the whole works. When ready to make stock, throw the whole block of ice and vegetables into your pot and start cooking. These veggies are going to be cooked to death for stock anyway, so appearance doesn't matter. Blanching preserves more of the structure and color, but if covered in water without blanching, you won't get freezer burn.

Thank you for this suggestion.. PERFECT and ingenious...

 

[Deltaboy]

Covering Veggies or meat in water prevents Frezzerburn. We frezze fish in one gal milk jugs for a winter time fish fix.

 

[Talal]

Covering Veggies or meat in water prevents Frezzerburn. We frezze fish in one gal milk jugs for a winter time fish fix.

very interesting.. thank you for sharing

 

[gearchow]

We just toss whatever vegetable into a gallon freezer bag and use that when we need it. They do get freezer burned though. The ice trick sounds great if you got a big enough freezer.

beyond making stock, my mom used to freeze any leftover vegetable - corn, lima beans, etc - in one container and when that got full, we had vegetable soup. Must of been a depression/ww2 era thing.

-jim

 

[Deltaboy]

very interesting.. thank you for sharing

No problem we have beening doing this in our family for past 80 years. It is a time proven method used all over the Deep South.