Frozen apple cider. Homemade apple cider recipe

Is it possible to freeze fresh cucumbers? How to use it later?

Large freezers are no longer uncommon. Keeping vegetables and fruits frozen is a great way to supplement your diet with vitamins during the winter. But regarding cucumbers, is it worth freezing them? Anyone who has done this, please share your experience. How can you use frozen fresh cucumbers later?

Cucumbers can be frozen. To do this, the cucumbers need to be washed, dried and the ends trimmed. Usually, cucumbers are frozen for preparing salads in winter, so they must be cut into cubes and immediately put in a bag, quickly put in the freezer for blast freezing. Frozen cucumbers should not be thawed before use, otherwise they will become limp and look like a jelly mass. Therefore, they are placed frozen in the salad, then the taste and appearance of the cucumbers will be completely preserved.

I freeze cucumbers in small pieces, you can grate them and put them in flat molds along with the juice, then they are great to use in salads and okroshka. Can be mixed with dill. I can't think of anything better. I’m not very fanatical about freezing, but given the high cost and the desire to preserve real food, it forces me to do it.

I freeze cucumbers, but not very much. Buying a cucumber in winter is no problem. But sometimes you come up with the idea of making okroshka without leaving home to go to the store. That's why I freeze the complex - a bag of chopped cucumber, green onions and dill with parsley. I freeze it, pushing it into a plastic box. Then I put this “okroshka tablet” into a bag so that I don’t have to keep the box in the freezer. I make several of these tablet bricks. When in winter there are boiled potatoes with eggs, then impromptu okroshka quickly comes out. I’ll cut up what you need, top it with cold water and this brick of frozen cucumbers with herbs. Then sour cream and salt. Fast and cold right away.

I wouldn’t freeze it for eating, it won’t be eaten. But this is just us, maybe someone in the family has different preferences. Just like frozen zucchini, I categorically do not like it. But this is for food consumption, but for cosmetic purposes, freezing the pulp or juice is very good. I make lotion and masks from this frozen raw material.

A question about cucumbers, but I will also add about my other preferences in freezing vegetables. I don’t freeze peppers, it also loses its excellent taste, if only a little for borscht, I first fry the eggplants, then freeze them, I do the same with cauliflower and mushrooms.

Juice from raw frozen pumpkin

Without waiting for the pieces of frozen pumpkin to melt, grate it using a coarse grater. Wait 15-20 minutes, place the grated pumpkin in a gauze bag and squeeze out the juice thoroughly. Add lemon juice and sugar to taste, and no one will ever guess that this is pumpkin juice.

From the remaining pumpkin pulp you can make puree or homemade marmalade for children.

Watch the video for two options on how to make pumpkin juice:

I, like any gardener, face the eternal problem of preparing for the winter. How can we manage to process vegetables and fruits so that we don’t have to throw away some of the harvest, so to speak, fresh, and some in the spring, after winter storage?

Freezing juice for the winter is very easy

To freeze. But not individual fruits, but juices - both with pulp, and clarified, and even pureed. It is very simple to make such a blank, but special preparation is required.

Cucumber juice: useful tips and recipes for canning for the winter

If you want to keep your body in good shape during the cold season, then you should definitely preserve cucumber juice for the winter. Thanks to this preparation, the resulting drink of vigor will unexpectedly delight you with a surge of fortified energy.

General information about cucumbers and cucumber juice

Those who think that cucumber is a tasty but useless product should know that this opinion is wrong. This is the only vegetable that we eat unripe. The longer a cucumber ripens, the less vitamins remain in it. The low-calorie fruit is an important product for those trying to lose weight or simply follow a certain diet. It moderates appetite and the person feels full. Therefore, preparing cucumber juice for the winter will be necessary for people with minor health problems. Note: 13.5 kcal per 100 g.

Cucumber is recommended to be consumed with meat dishes, as it promotes favorable digestion of protein foods. Also, when eaten fresh, the vegetable is very useful for strengthening the cardiovascular system, its diuretic effect relieves swelling, and cucumber can also act as a laxative. The most useful fruit is one that has just been picked from the garden; after just a few hours it loses some of its positive properties.

Cucumber juice is often used in the winter as a cosmetic product for facial skin care: it whitens, relieves inflammation, removes rashes, reduces oiliness, and removes freckles.

Benefits of eating cucumber:

thirst-quenching vegetable;
cleanses the body;
contains small amounts of fats, proteins and carbohydrates;
thanks to dietary fiber, it acts to normalize intestinal function;
vitamins b, e, pp are also included;
Potassium will help for stable heart function;
patients with thyroid disease should definitely consume this fruit in their diet, as it contains a lot of iodine;
cucumber with a bunch of minerals, regulates metabolism, namely: magnesium, chlorine, chromium, fluorine, cobalt, calcium, iron, sodium, copper, zinc, manganese.

It is not recommended to eat cucumbers for those with high stomach acidity.

Many people wonder how to prepare cucumber juice for the winter. The step-by-step instructions presented below will answer all the questions of every housewife and even provide much more information. To prepare such provisions, you should purchase fresh vegetables and immediately begin action.

4.5 kg of cucumbers yield 3 liters of juice.

Cucumber juice for the winter

cucumber – 15 kg;
salt – 150 g;
cumin – 50 g;
dill seeds – 50 g;
horseradish root – 20 g;
black pepper – 2 g;
allspice – 2g.

Cut the washed cucumbers into pieces.
Soak in brine for 30 minutes. Brine: 1 liter of water, 1 tbsp. spoon of salt.
Squeeze the juice from the cucumbers, strain and add salt if necessary.
Read also: How to fry pistachios in the shell
Finely chop the remaining ingredients or grate them, add seasonings and distribute them into bottles in equal parts.
Fill the jars with juice ingredients and send them to a warm place for 3 days to ferment.
At the end of fermentation, cool the juice from the cucumbers for the winter and seal with lids. The drink is ready.

For some picky people, cucumber juice does not taste very pleasant, but you need to get useful vitamins from it; for this, the drink can be prepared with the addition of some fruits or vegetables. Below are options on how to make juice from cucumbers and recipes for similar mixtures.

cucumber – 2000 g;
apple – 2000 g;
cinnamon - teaspoon.

Peel and cut thoroughly washed vegetables.
Peel the apples and cut into slices.
Using an electric juicer, squeeze out the juice and mix in one bowl.
Add cinnamon. Heat in a saucepan, pour into jars and seal with a lid.
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Recipe for cucumber and tomato juice

cucumber – 2 kg;
tomato – 3 kg;
salt - to taste.

Wash the vegetables. Remove the tails.
Pass the cucumber through the juicer first, then the tomato. Mix the resulting mass thoroughly.
Pour into a saucepan and put on fire until it boils.
Add salt and simmer the mixture over low heat, skimming off the foam.
Prepare jars: wash with soda and sterilize. Do the same with the lids.
Pour the juice into jars, wrap and let cool in a warm cloth.
Ready drink for yours class=”aligncenter” width=”600″ height=”450″[/img]

Frozen cucumber juice

The juice from the vegetable in question can not only be canned, but also frozen. Cucumber juice for the winter, which does not take much time to freeze, will delight you with an unsurpassed taste even when preserved in this way. The ingredients you will need are only cucumber fruits without any other additives.

Pre-blanching

Since carrots require a long cooking or stewing time when cooked, it is advisable to blanch them for several minutes before freezing. Then rinse with cold water. This will improve the taste and reduce cooking time later.

For this type of preparation you will need a large saucepan, a container of water and ice.

Ice water must be ready before blanching begins.

Blanching is done in the following way:

A large saucepan is filled 2/3 with water and placed on fire.
After the water boils, add prepared chopped (or whole) carrots into it.
After 2 minutes, take out the vegetables and quickly transfer them to ice water.
The carrots are allowed to “cool” for the same amount of time (2 minutes) to quickly stop the cooking process.
Place the carrots in a colander or sieve to drain the water. You can remove the vegetables from the water with a slotted spoon and place them on a paper towel.
After the carrots have dried, they are laid out in a thin layer on a tray. In this case, you need to make sure that the parts do not touch.
Place the tray in the freezer for 2-3 hours.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the utilization of beet processing by-products

The prepared vegetables are placed in portions into prepared containers (it is better to remove them from the tray with a spatula) and placed in the freezer.

How to properly freeze cucumbers for the winter at home

Modern housewives store carrots and other fruits with a strong pulp structure in the freezer. But is it possible to freeze cucumbers for the winter, because sometimes you want to try a vitamin-rich vegetable salad or aromatic okroshka? It turns out that it is possible. All methods of harvesting this fruit are described below.

Preparing cucumbers for freezing

Freezing allows you to preserve up to 80% of vitamins and microelements in fruits. The main thing is to pay attention to preparing raw materials for storage.

For preparations, take whole strong fruits. Cucumbers should not have a loose structure; it is better to take unripe vegetables. They are washed under cold tap water and wiped dry with a clean towel or napkins.

Important! Cucumbers for preparations are chosen fresh, without dents or signs of disease. Before cooking, they are washed and wiped dry.

It is better to freeze recently harvested crops. The longer the fruits lie, the worse they are stored in the refrigerator. Leftover vegetables lose their smell and taste and become soft.

Methods for freezing cucumbers for the winter

Depending on what dishes the vegetables will be used in, they are prepared in pieces, whole, fresh or salted.

For your information! Homemade frozen vegetables will protect the family from nitrates that are saturated with imported fruits. In addition, the harvest from the garden is more fragrant than store-bought cucumbers.

The better the housewife prepares the fruits for the freezer, the easier it will be to defrost them and the more pleasant it will be to serve. A properly frozen product retains its marketability and taste in dishes.

In circles

Cucumbers are cut into circles 3-5 cm wide and laid out on a plate, which is then placed in the freezer for 2 hours. This procedure is done so that the rings do not stick together. When the workpieces have strengthened under the influence of low temperature, they are transferred to a container with a tight lid.

Note! You can store the rings in bags, but there is a risk that they will break when moving other foods in the freezer.

There is no need to be afraid to freeze cut cucumbers. Chopped vegetables do not lose their taste and aromatic qualities. By cutting the fruits into rings, the housewife makes it easier for herself to work in the kitchen in the future. You can simply take a portion of vegetable preparations and throw them into a soup or salad.

Before the pre-freezing process, you need to allow excess juice to drain, then during cooking the cucumber slices will not let in moisture and will retain their elastic appearance.

Cubes

You can freeze cucumbers for the winter at home by cutting them into 0.5 cm cubes. The preparations are placed in plastic bags, from which the air is pumped out and tied tightly. It is important to remember that the number of cubes should be for one preparation. Otherwise, the remaining defrosted vegetables will spoil.

Note! If the cubes are later used to make okroshka, they are filled with kefir. In this form, vegetables are stored better and do not absorb foreign odors. Before cooking, you just need to defrost the portion.

The rough skin of the fruit should be removed; it is only used in dishes.

Chopped vegetables along with dill, onions, and carrots can be packaged in bags and frozen as a dressing for soup. In the form of a preparation for the future vitamin salad, cut the cucumbers into cubes, add a boiled chopped egg and dill to them, pour the mixture with vegetable oil and put it in a sealed bag, and then in the freezer. The oil envelops the edges of the cucumber pieces and prevents the smell and moisture from escaping from the vegetables when defrosting.

Entirely

Many people are interested in whether it is possible to freeze cucumbers whole in the freezer for the winter. It is advisable to freeze whole fruits if they are small. Such vegetables retain their shape and structure better when defrosted. Clean and undamaged specimens are placed in bags and placed in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.

Important! Each fruit must first be wiped dry so that not a drop of moisture remains. One vegetable is placed per package.

Whole fruits are frozen if they are needed to prepare cucumber sauce. In this case, they are removed from the freezer immediately before cooking. Solid preparations are grated.

If whole fruits need to be cut into small cubes, they are not completely defrosted. Semi-hard fruits will retain their shape and will not release a lot of juice when crushed.

Cucumber juice

Frozen cucumber juice is used for lotions that are used to wipe the face after washing. To prepare a vitamin solution, vegetables are passed through a meat grinder or crushed in a blender. Then the green mass is squeezed out using gauze, the juice is poured into an ice tray and left in the freezer.

Rub the face and décolleté with a cube of frozen cucumber juice. Natural tonic tightens the skin, lightens age spots, removes fine wrinkles. Plant juice is a good replacement for chemical cosmetics.

For your information! Cucumber juice has a tightening effect on the skin of the face. You can use it as a tonic for washing at any age.

On a grater

Housewives who want to freeze cucumbers in the freezer are also interested in whether it is possible to prepare the grated mass for the winter. Cucumber gruel can be used to prepare a cosmetic face mask. To do this, clean fruits are rubbed on a coarse grater. Green porridge along with juice is placed in small bags or in ice trays. The preparations are defrosted before preparing the masks.

It must be remembered that as much raw material is placed in the freezing bag as needed for one-time use. To avoid oxygen ingress, you need to pump out all the air from the bag with the workpiece. To do this, use a cocktail tube through which the air mass is sucked out.

Note! Grated cucumber will add a summer flavor to sauces and gravies that you won't get from a store-bought vegetable.

If the fruit has a hard skin, it must be removed before harvesting.

For salads, you can grate the vegetable using a Korean carrot grater.

Salty

You can also freeze pickles for the winter. Housewives who have made frozen pickles know this for sure.

Acidic frozen vegetables that are stored in large jars or barrels often go uneaten. To avoid throwing away the product, the leftovers are frozen.

For salads and soups, vegetables are prepared by cutting them into cubes; for table snacks, specimens are frozen whole.

In the future, such preparations are used to prepare vinaigrettes and pickles. Salted defrosted gherkins look good on a holiday table in a vegetable salad.

Shelf life

Frozen cucumbers can be stored for up to a year in the freezer. It is important to protect the workpieces from temperature changes and not to defrost or clean the refrigerator while storing the workpieces.

The safety of the packaging is affected by the tightness of the packaging. The bags in which cucumbers are packaged must be tightly closed. Air and foreign odors that penetrate the packaging spoil the taste of the fruit.

Important! Vegetable preparations are stored separately from meat and fish.

Thus, it makes sense to freeze cucumber preparations, since frozen vegetables retain more vitamins than pickled ones.

How to defrost cucumbers correctly

To defrost cucumbers, place them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Of course, they will no longer be as crispy and hard as fresh ones, but they will retain their aroma and some strength. The correct way to defrost is to let the cucumbers thaw slowly.

Do not heat frozen vegetables in the microwave or speed up the defrosting process with hot water. In this case, the fruits will become soft and lose their presentation.

For soup, it is not necessary to defrost the raw materials; the cucumber mass is taken out of the freezer and thrown into the dish during the cooking process.

Important! Cucumbers cannot be re-frozen.

Whole specimens are not completely defrosted; they should be slightly firm. In this form, the fruits are easier to cut and the portioned pieces will be beautiful. A half-thawed cucumber is more convenient to grate for sauce and dressing; it does not fall apart in your hands.

Use in cooking

Cucumbers frozen for the winter are used in recipes for pickles, salads, and stews. Housewives note that frozen summer cucumbers are tastier and more aromatic than store-bought ones that were grown and brought from other countries.

Slices of vegetables decorate salads and place them on sandwiches. Cold cucumber rings are an excellent remedy for puffiness under the eyes; they are placed on the eyelids to relieve inflammation.

Pickled frozen cucumbers are used in sauces, roasts, solyankas, Olivier salad, and cut into vegetable slices. You can make a vitamin cocktail from vegetable juice for a healthy diet.

Small cucumber cubes or gruel are added to dressings for various dishes. The types of ingredients can be very diverse. You can cook grated cucumbers with dill, parsley, egg, apple. For the binder, use vegetable oil or sour cream with mayonnaise. Vegetable sauce will pleasantly complement the taste of fish, potatoes and meat.

The secret to successfully freezing cucumbers is following step-by-step winter preparation technology. Frozen vegetables preserve all the vitamins that people need so much during the winter and spring periods. By preparing a cucumber harvest at home for the winter, the housewife will provide her family with tasty and healthy products.

Selection and preparation of carrots

Depending on what the blanks are planned for, they are made in different ways. Carrots are convenient both in a dried-cured state, and in frozen or canned form, so it is best to use all options based on your capabilities.

Frozen carrots

The easiest way to preserve semi-finished carrots for a long time. It is enough to wash and peel the root vegetables, cut into rings, cubes, strips or coarsely grater - and put them in plastic bags or containers in the freezer. In winter, such carrots are easy to use when preparing first courses, side dishes and any salads.

The easiest way to preserve semi-finished carrots for a long time is freezing.

Dried carrots

Dried carrots are a tasty and healthy preparation. In winter, it is convenient to add it to soups and borscht, stewed potatoes and any porridge. There are several ways to dry carrots. For this method, the brightest root vegetables are selected. To properly dry carrots, the root vegetables are washed and boiled for 10-15 minutes. Then peel and cut into strips (no more than 5-7 mm thick). Dry in 1 layer in the oven at 75ºC.

Grated on a coarse grater

Boil the washed carrots for 5 minutes, peel, grate on a coarse grater, dry in room conditions, dry in the oven, spread out in 1 layer, at a temperature of 75ºC. Depending on the duration of drying, carrots can be dried (slightly underdried) or dried. It is good not only for adding to dishes - many children (and adults) enjoy eating it just like that. Try it, it’s very tasty) Housewives in whose homes spices and hot seasonings are not welcome can prepare natural carrots, which can be used in winter for making salads or generally as an independent dish. It is also perfect for dietary nutrition.

In this video - how to prepare natural canned carrots for the winter

Salty

Salted carrots retain most of the nutrients and vitamins. Like all other salted vegetables, carrots prepared in this way are used in vinaigrettes and salads, in hot dishes and soups. The best ones for pickling are ('Nantes', 'Moscow Winter', 'Gribovskaya') which are juicy orange in color and have a small core. Carrots are salted both in unpeeled and peeled forms.

water - 1 l;
salt - 60-65 g.

Dissolve salt in boiling water, 5 minutes. Boil the brine. Cool and pour cold brine over the carrots.

Recipe:

Wash the carrots thoroughly.
Place in rows in a prepared container (tub), fill with cooled brine, and place pressure on top of a wooden circle. The brine should be 10-15 cm above the carrot layer.
After fermenting for 4-5 days at room conditions, the container is transferred to the cold, where it is left until winter.

: If during salting the housewife “overdid it” with salt, the carrots can be pre-soaked in boiled water before eating.

Pickled carrots

Wonderful preparations are obtained by using a variety of marinades. These carrots will go great in winter in salads, vinaigrettes and as a side dish for meat. And of course, pickled carrots are good as a crunchy snack with a pleasant sweet and sour taste.

Pickled carrots are good

salt - 50 g;
sugar - 90 g;
vinegar essence - 1 tbsp. spoon.

allspice - 8 pcs.;
black peppercorns - 8 pcs.;
cloves - 5 pcs.;
bay leaf - 1-2 pcs.;
cinnamon, garlic or herbs - optional.

Wash the carrots, peel them, place them in salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes, cool and cut into circles (optional into bars or slices).
Place carrots in jars, pour hot marinade, sterilize for 20-25 minutes, roll up, turn over onto lids, wrap until cool. Sterilize jars with a capacity of 0.5 l for 12-15 minutes.

salt - 30 g;
sugar - 60-70 g.

Wash the carrots, peel them, cut them into slices up to 1 cm thick, and place them in boiling water for 3-4 minutes.
Pour 100 ml of 9% vinegar, 200 ml of vegetable oil into each liter jar, add carrots and 60 g of garlic, pour in hot marinade, sterilize for 15 minutes, roll up.

We suggest you read: How to pickle red cabbage for the winter
You can prepare carrots with fruits or berries. This will also be a tasty “find” on a cold winter day, reminiscent of a bright sunny summer and golden carrot autumn.

Carrots with apples To prepare the marinade you will need:

apple juice - 0.5 l;
vegetable oil - 100 g;
coriander seeds - 1 tbsp. spoon;
water - 0.5 l.

Wash and peel the carrots, cut into thin slices or put under a coarse grater.
Wash sour apples and cut into slices or slices.
Place carrots and apples in layers in sterilized jars, pour boiling marinade over them and roll up. Turn over onto the lid and wrap.

carrots - 1 kg;
gooseberries - 1 kg;
sugar - 0.3 kg.

Peel the carrots, boil and puree (mash).
Boil gooseberries in a small amount of water and puree.
Mix the grated carrots and gooseberries, add sugar, bring to a boil and immediately put into hot jars and roll up.

By adding various fruits, berries and spices to the preparations, you can achieve a rich “carrot-fruit-berry” variety for winter tables.

Carrots make a lot of preparations for the winter

As it turns out, carrots make so many preparations for the winter! And it doesn’t matter at all that the ability of carrots to improve vision is just a beautiful myth invented by the British. Let this story remain a story, and let our carrots improve our vision, heal wounds, and prolong our youth!

Bunny with carrots

And if you also share your interesting recipes, carrots will definitely become a favorite guest on every Russian table every day!

Color. The best juice will be obtained from varieties that are bright orange in color. This color indicates the content of a large amount of carotene. The more intense and rich the color, the tastier and healthier the juice will be.

Size. Small fruits are selected for cooking. The weight of carrots should not exceed 180 grams.

Maturity. Ripe vegetables contain more juice. Determining the degree of ripeness is not difficult: if the integrity of the fruit is damaged, a large amount of liquid should appear.

Before freezing carrots in the freezer, you need to take a responsible approach to the choice of products and choose only high-quality material. It’s better if these are vegetables from your own garden.

So, the root crops are selected to be young, juicy, whole, and not rotten.

You need to choose medium-sized carrots. It is better to set aside small specimens - when frozen they lose their taste.

Before harvesting, vegetables are thoroughly cleaned of dirt, washed, the top layer is thinly trimmed, the ends are cut off and laid out on a towel to dry thoroughly.

To prepare you will need:

carrot
citric acid - to taste

Preparation

To prepare carrot juice for the winter, you can use this simple recipe. For each liter of juice, take from 1.5 to 2 kg of root vegetables, depending on the juiciness of the carrots.

Wash the carrots thoroughly and scrape off the skin with a knife. Using a juicer, extract the juice from the carrots. Add citric acid to taste.

Pour the juice into clean, sterilized jars and place the jars to sterilize. For 0.5 liter cans, 30 minutes is enough, for 1 liter cans - 45 minutes. Upon completion of sterilization, jars of juice should be immediately sealed, hermetically sealed with boiled lids.

After cooling, store the juice in a cool, dark place.