Busy housewives, analyzing the methods of preparing vegetables, come to the conclusion that freezing is the healthiest option. This way, maximum nutrients are preserved. According to some researchers, the nutritional value of frozen vegetables is higher than that of fresh vegetables stored in basements or cellars until spring.
Frozen beets, for example, retain up to 90% of vitamin C. Therefore, housewives should not doubt whether it is possible to freeze beets for the winter - this method of storing root vegetables is quite acceptable.
True, beets cannot be re-frozen (it “kills” all the beneficial properties of the vegetable). Thawed root vegetables must be consumed immediately in full.
This method of preparing vegetables is important for those who do not have the opportunity to keep it fresh until the next harvest. In apartments and warm vegetable stores, root vegetables quickly wither, lose their presentation, juiciness and nutrients. Freezing allows you to preserve the nutritional value of a delicious vegetable.
How to freeze beets
With the main question of whether it is possible to freeze beets for the winter, everything is clear. But you have to decide which root vegetables are suitable for freezing: fresh or boiled, whole or chopped. All variations of freezing are suitable.
The technology for preparing vegetables for freezing is simple, regardless of the form in which it is planned to be processed. Only high-quality root vegetables, medium in size (their flesh is juicy, deep burgundy in color, without fibrous veins), thoroughly washed and dried, are suitable for harvesting.
Preliminary preparation of vegetables
First, you need to rinse the beets well so that no dirt remains on them. Place in a saucepan, add cold water and cook. Cook as usual until done. After this, cool the beets naturally.
You cannot pour cold water over prepared beets. Peel off the skin. The beets are ready for storage and freezing.
The first step is to choose quality vegetables to freeze. The root crop should be dense, small in size, with a smooth skin, without damage.
Another important aspect of choosing beets is their tail. He must be alone. Numerous root shoots indicate that the vegetable is tough.
We cut off the tops from the selected specimens, and wash the fruits themselves with a brush under running water. This must be done very carefully so that there is no sand or dirt left on the root crop.
Watch the video on how to choose the right beets - Stocking beets for the winter
Preparing beets for freezing should begin with choosing a variety of vegetables and fruits. Varieties must be selected so that they have a sweetish taste; the fruits must be ripe, but without obvious signs of decay.
REFERENCE: It is not recommended to use early varieties of beets for freezing, since they do not contain sufficient vitamins and microelements.
It is also worth noting that when choosing beets for freezing, it is necessary to exclude fruits that contain hairs on the root, since the presented vegetable may be tough.
After completing the selection of vegetables, they must be thoroughly washed and peeled.
Success in freezing beets primarily depends on the quality of the selected fruits. They should be small, dense, with a smooth and undamaged surface. Selected root vegetables are removed from the tops and thoroughly washed with a brush under running water.
Important! It is worth choosing a vegetable with one root shoot, since several of them indicate that the fruit has a rigid structure.
Any preparation is useful if the root crop has grown on fertile soil. Healthy beets have lush green leaves without shriveled areas. The vegetable itself is smooth, with intact skin. When cut, the color should be rich. If the light rings are contrasting, the plant contains large quantities of nitrates.
Medium-sized root vegetables are selected for harvesting. There is no need to wait for them to fully ripen. Young beets contain more vitamins and biologically active substances. The vegetable must be thoroughly washed, the leaves separated, and the moisture drained.
Before freezing vegetables, the freezer drawer is emptied of excess food, washed and dried. Bags of beets are placed tightly in a dry box.
In this case, the vegetable is frozen quickly and the beneficial substances are preserved. If the refrigerator is not equipped with such a function, then the product is frozen at 10-15 degrees below zero. This temperature is considered optimal.
Plastic containers are often used to freeze chopped vegetables.
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Freezing boiled beets
Let's figure out whether it is possible to freeze boiled beets and how best to do it. For freezing, select whole beets with the tail. Root vegetables are not cut into pieces and their tops and tops are not removed. Pour a little vinegar into the water to boil the vegetable. Beets processed using this method retain their bright color. Dishes obtained from it are rich in color.
The root vegetables are cooked, now you need to decide what is better: can you freeze grated, whole or chopped beets. Before chopping, peel the root vegetables. For soups and certain types of snacks (for example, Korean), grate it. For salads, vinaigrettes, aspic, chop into strips, cubes, stars (it all depends on the technology of preparing the dish and the housewives’ ideas).
The sliced or pureed mass is transferred to containers and subjected (if possible) to deep freezing. Semi-finished products, without defrosting, are added to the dish when it is almost ready. For salads, vinaigrettes and appetizers, they are defrosted. Boiled root vegetables can reduce the cooking time of certain dishes.
Freezing beet tops
There are many recipes for frozen beets, but in any case, for long-term storage, the vegetable must be properly prepared. First of all, you need to select root crops suitable for harvesting for the winter. Only young, fresh, firm, fully ripe and preferably not very large specimens of a dark burgundy color, without the slightest signs of lesions, rotting or other defects, are definitely suitable for these purposes.
Important! Early varieties of beets do not have very high taste qualities; their cultivation has another goal - to saturate the market after a long period of vitamin deficiency. Such beets are not suitable for freezing! In addition, you should avoid using root vegetables with hairs on the surface for freezing; these vegetables are usually too hard.
We cut the selected beets from both sides: where the tops were - under the base, the lower side - leaving part of the spout.
You can freeze beets in several ways - raw or boiled, whole or in pieces, on their own or as part of a vegetable mixture, etc. You can use several different options in parallel, because each of them is suitable for its own dish: you can’t make a vinaigrette from grated beets, But you can’t put boiled one in borscht.
Did you know? In ancient Russian chronicles, beets began to be mentioned in the 10th-11th centuries. According to legend, the heroes believed that it not only heals many ailments, but also gives strength.
Fresh
So, before us we have already peeled beets. It can be frozen directly whole. To do this, each root vegetable is placed in a separate plastic bag and placed in the freezer. The disadvantage of this method is that before use, such a root vegetable will first need to be completely defrosted, while chopped beets can be added to certain dishes (for example, borscht) without defrosting. But there is also an advantage: you have many more possible directions for using such a product.
And yet, more often beets are frozen for the winter in crushed form. You can cut the root vegetable into rings, chop into small cubes or grate - depending on which option for cutting vegetables is more familiar to you (for example, in the famous “herring under a fur coat”, almost every housewife has her own form of slicing beets - someone some like grated, some like sliced, and some like very large slices). If you like it finely ground, you can use a blender and freeze the almost puree.
Now we place the prepared pieces (slices, grated mass) in plastic bags or special food containers and place them in the freezer. If your refrigerator has a “quick freeze” function, great; if not, that’s okay too. The main thing is not to let the beets release juice!
Important! Instead of special containers for freezing, you can use ordinary plastic cups, covering them with cling film on top and securing it on the sides with an elastic band.
Raw beets (cut into small cubes or grated on a coarse grater) are used as a preparation for borscht. As an option, you can freeze a mixture of beets and carrots, since the rules for preparing these root vegetables for the winter are absolutely identical. It is enough to pack the vegetables in such a way that one serving corresponds to the required amount of ingredients that you usually use when cooking a signature dish, and then during the cooking process you will only have to add them to the borscht without defrosting. But this method also has a drawback. What you cook can be called borscht only very conditionally.
Therefore, it is better to prepare the preparation for borscht in another way, we will describe it below.
Boiled
Boiled beets, like raw ones, can be frozen whole or in chopped form - it all depends on whether you prefer to tinker with cutting at the harvesting stage or before the final use of the product.
Important! It is better to cook beets unpeeled, so they will retain their color. For the same reason, you should not cut it off at the rhizome.
Bring water to a boil, add root vegetables and cook until tender. Beets cook for quite a long time, it all depends on the variety and size of the vegetable; you can check the degree of readiness either by piercing the root vegetable with a knife (the knife should easily enter the pulp) or, for more experienced housewives, carefully so as not to burn yourself by squeezing the beets with two fingers (boiled root vegetable loses its original hardness).
Cooled boiled beets are much easier to peel than raw ones. Now you can put whole root vegetables into bags or, as when freezing raw vegetables, cut them in any desired way. The packaged products are sent to the freezer, preferably with the “quick freezing” mode.
You should turn on this mode, if you have it at your disposal, a couple of hours before loading the beets; it is in this case that the desired effect will be achieved.
Features of growing sugar and leaf beets
Boiled beets are used for vinaigrettes, salads and other cold appetizers.
And now, as promised, the author’s recipe for borscht dressing.
Important! Beets lose their unique color when cooked. To preserve it in borscht, there is only one way: first stew the root vegetable with the addition of acid - citric or acetic.
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Pour raw beets, grated on a coarse grater, into a cauldron with preheated vegetable oil. Add a teaspoon of sugar (based on one medium-sized root vegetable), a tablespoon of vinegar 9%, add water so that it barely covers the vegetables, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Let it cool, put it in glass jars in portions based on your regular pan of borscht (about one medium beet per 3-4 liters) and freeze it along with the brine. The day before use (preferably in the evening), take it out of the freezer and rearrange the bottom shelf of the refrigerator so that the liquid melts.
With this dressing, the borscht will have a rich red color and piquant sourness. Only the beets should be vinaigrette, that is, bright burgundy in color: fruits that are cut pink with white stripes will not give such an effect!
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Beetroot puree is often frozen if there are small children in the family. However, adults can also love this dish. For this recipe, beets boiled as described above are pureed in a blender, placed in small glass jars (one serving at a time) and placed in the freezer, preferably using super freezing.
Oddly enough, not only the roots, but also the tops of beets are edible, so this is a truly priceless product.
Did you know? If it is impossible to imagine ordinary borscht without beet roots, then from the tops, which few people know, you can cook green borscht, and it will be no worse than the well-known version from sorrel. Moreover, both herbs can be used both fresh and frozen.
The leaves should be sorted out, carefully inspected and damaged and too hard should be removed. Then the greens are washed under running water, laid out on a dry towel and allowed to dry completely (turning occasionally to ensure uniformity).
Dry leaves are not cut very finely with a knife (in fact, the same way you cut sorrel when preparing green borscht).
The prepared tops are packaged in portioned bags and frozen in the manner described above (the deeper and faster the freezing, the better).
You will be interested to learn about the beneficial properties of beets and beet tops
- Freezing beets begins with preliminary selection of the fruit. This is a young, not too small, but fresh product of rich burgundy or dark red color. There should be no signs of rot, mold or damage.
- The best solution is to freeze late varieties of beets. They have a rich taste and are freeze-resistant.
- Pruning of the root crop is carried out on both sides.
- The workpiece is washed well under running water and cleaned with a brush.
- The peel is removed, and must be cut very thinly. And it’s better to use a potato peeler rather than a knife.
The vegetable that needs to be frozen should not have any stubble. This is a sign of increased rigidity.
The best way to freeze beets in the freezer for the winter depends on what they are intended to be used for. For example, for borscht it is better to prepare the root vegetable in grated form, raw, and for vinaigrette - immediately cut into cubes and boiled.
If there is no exact information about how the root vegetable will be used, then it is optimal to freeze it whole and raw. You can also freeze boiled beets, and then take them out in the winter and quickly cut them as needed for a salad or other culinary masterpiece. In any case, it’s faster than canning vegetables.
For freezing, not only fresh root vegetables are used, but also boiled ones. This is very convenient if the vegetable is going to be used in the preparation of salads, vinaigrettes, as well as New Year’s herring under a fur coat. You can freeze boiled beets if you don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing the dish. But such a preparation can only be used in those dishes where the product is cooked and only in the cut in which the vegetable was prepared. It is often more profitable to freeze the boiled root vegetable whole, so that you can then cut it as needed.
First of all, the root vegetable must be boiled. To prevent it from losing its color, you should not cut off the rhizomes, as well as the tops. Only after cooking can the product be peeled and cut into pieces. This is the best option for those who do not want to tinker separately just before preparing a dish. A cooled boiled vegetable is different in that it is much easier to clean.
It is better for families with children to preserve boiled vegetables in the form of puree. Freezing red beets is convenient for preparing children's vegetable dishes. Often this dish, especially with the addition of garlic, is also liked by adults. To prepare the puree, you need to boil the root vegetable and then peel it. Then you will need a blender to prepare the puree.
After the entire vegetable has been processed into puree, it must be put into bags and the packaging date must be signed. The next step is to put it in the freezer.
If desired, freeze the boiled vegetable whole. To do this, you need to follow a simple algorithm:
- Select healthy root vegetables.
- Wash them thoroughly with a brush.
- Boil in acidified water.
- After checking readiness, cool the root vegetable.
- Divide into freezer bags.
- Sign and put in the freezer.
- Sort through the green leaves, removing hard and damaged ones.
- Wash the greens under running water.
- Dry the tops on towels.
- Chop the greens with a knife and place portions into bags.
- Place the preparation in the freezer and use frozen beet tops as needed.
Freezing raw beets
Is it possible to freeze raw beets, will they not lose their beneficial properties? Raw root vegetables are frozen after cutting off the skin. Peeled beets are crushed on graters, slicers, blenders or food processors, obtaining beautiful cuts of various shapes.
Fresh beets that are frozen turn pale. When cooked, the beet pieces acquire an unappetizing brown color, and the dish does not get enough color. Although unfrozen beet slices also turn brown if the broth is not acidified with vinegar.
Freezing vinaigrette in the freezer
You can freeze a half-finished salad, but you should defrost it only once and eat it immediately. Perishable foods and dressings are not suitable for deep freezing. Onions, for example, lose their properties very quickly; there is no point in freezing them. Select the most basic components of the salad and prepare them for storage in the freezer.
The beets for the vinaigrette are boiled, peeled, cut into cubes and frozen. Before adding it, it is defrosted at room temperature so as not to lose taste and color. You should absolutely not use quick defrosting, otherwise there is a risk of getting a tasteless and bland dish without beneficial properties.
These are some simple ways to help keep your vegetables fresh. Share your experiences on preparing for the winter in the comments.
It is better to prepare vegetables in several versions for different dishes. Finely chopped beets that were stored in a container will resemble a single mass after defrosting. In this case, it cannot be used for salad; it will lose its shape. However, it can easily be added to soup or borscht, so this storage option is preferable for further cooking.
Freezing whole beets
Is it possible to freeze whole beets for future use? Of course, you can prepare fresh and boiled root vegetables this way.
Fresh root vegetables should not be peeled, stems and tops with remaining tops. Vegetables, without defrosting or cutting, are dipped into water or broth, not forgetting to acidify the liquid. When the beets are cooked, take them out and cool. Peel the root vegetables and chop them, giving them the shape required by the technology of the prepared dish. At the same time, the color of root vegetables, slices and broths will be rich.
Whole boiled root vegetables, packaged, are sent to the freezer. However, for further use they will have to be thawed first (frozen fruits cannot be chopped). In addition, let us note that the integrity of the beets is violated by ice crystals that inevitably form inside the root crop. You cannot get beautiful cuts from such semi-finished products.
How to freeze vinaigrette without compromising quality?
I think many people are faced with a situation where they need to prepare food for future use - well, semi-finished products are understandable, but has anyone tried freezing vinaigrette?
What is the best way to freeze it without compromising its taste and quality? In order to leave your answer to a question, you must Login or go through a quick registration procedure Register
To freeze without compromising the taste, cut the prepared vegetables into a vinaigrette, stir, but do not add salt or oil. Add salt and oil after defrosting.
And somehow I unwittingly froze the vinaigrette. We put it on the balcony overnight, and at night it was frosty - 20
Nothing, it stood for several hours in the warmth and defrosted, and I’ll tell you the taste didn’t get any worse.
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Subtleties of freezing beets
Having found out exactly whether it is possible to freeze beets for the winter, we will learn how to properly prepare vegetable slices for harvesting for future use. If you put the entire portion of chopped beets into a container for freezing, after cold treatment it will turn into one lump, inconvenient to use.
There are two options for use - either dip the entire lump into the dish being prepared, or defrost the slices (which is not advisable, because the semi-finished product will lose quality). Let's solve the problem: is it possible to freeze beets for the winter in a simple way so that the slices do not stick together?
When the freezing process is carried out in 2 stages, the beet slices do not freeze together. The beet slices are laid out on a tray or tray in one layer, covered with cling film (to prevent direct penetration of cold air), and placed in the freezer. The slices should sit in the refrigerator compartment for about an hour in the “Quick Freeze” mode (if, of course, the unit is equipped with such a function).
The frozen cuts are transferred to correxes or bags that have clamps. Following this technology, beet slices are made crumbly and easy to use.
Having found out whether it is possible to freeze beets, housewives choose their favorite method of processing root vegetables to prepare semi-finished products that are convenient to use in winter. A variety of dishes can be quickly prepared from frozen beets, especially chopped ones.
