A Primer on Home Freezing for the Beginner
by Charlotte M. Dunn[5]
Every homemaker knows that meals must be planned to get the most out of the food dollar and to provide the family with a well-balanced diet. The freezer, more than any other household appliance, can help secure these results. The more you learn how to use it in relation to your own family, the greater the returns.
Freezing is a quick, convenient and easy way to preserve foods in the home. Plan ahead to manage your time and energy for preserving food directly from harvest. Freeze limited amounts at one time so the work is spread over several days of picking, rather than squeezed into one long tiring period of time. Be practical about what you attempt.
Your own observation has taught you that some foods “spoil” more quickly than others, so the rate of speed at which they must be frozen varies with their individual temperaments. A good rule for home freezing is: two hours from garden or orchard to container, and the faster the better!
Most food that is highly perishable at normal temperatures can be quick frozen. Even delicate fruits and vegetables can be frozen, with only a few exceptions such as tomatoes (stewed tomatoes can be frozen) and those vegetables that lose crispness such as radishes, celery, cucumbers and salad greens.
Decide what you will freeze on the basis of availability of foods, family needs and taste, freezer space, cost of freezer storage, and availability of alternate methods of storage.
It is essential to start with high quality raw material. As garden foods mature, process without delay. Quality of the frozen food will be only as good as the quality of the food before freezing. Freeze foods at their peak of eating quality to preserve flavor, texture, and appearance as near those of the fresh product as possible.
Do not ignore details of the recommended procedures for preparing foods for freezing. Seemingly unimportant steps can make the difference between a low quality and a superior frozen product.
Before you begin freezing foods at home it’s important to know exactly which process to use and what the process is doing to the food.
Micro-organisms grow on food, causing it to spoil. The common growths are simple yeasts, molds, and bacteria. Because these micro-organisms are everywhere—in the air, water, soil and on all surfaces they contact—they naturally occur on all foods. Storing and preserving foods properly controls or inhibits the growth of micro-organisms, thus maintaining both quality and safety of the food.
Cleanliness and sanitary methods are as important in handling foods for freezing as in preparing them for immediate use.
All foods contain chemical substances called enzymes. They are essential to life, and continue their chemical activity after the fruits and vegetables mature or are harvested.
If allowed to work after a food reaches its peak of maturity, enzymes destroy the food’s physical properties, thus changing its color, flavor and texture.
When perishable food is not preserved by one of the recommended ways, enzymes within the cells of the food continue to live and cause spoilage.