Canning and Preserving For Dummies (40 page)

Don’t add cooked pasta to your spaghetti sauce before freezing or freeze liquids with cooked grains and rice; their flavor and texture will be lost.

Freezing Bread, Snacks, and Other Treats

Have your ever felt like you had to finish a birthday cake before it went bad or had a partial loaf of bread grow fuzzy, green mold? Well, here’s the answer to these (and other) challenges: Freeze these foods to save them.

Bread, buns, muffins, and rolls

Bread and bread products freeze well. Repackage them in moisture- and vapor-proof paper or freezer bags. Divide your loaves into the number of slices that your normally use in a meal to prevent thawing and refreezing of the entire loaf. Bread can be frozen for 2 to 3 months and still remain fresh tasting when thawed.

When you’re making muffins at home, make two or three varieties at the same time, wrapping them individually.

When making bread, prepare your loaves to the point of baking, including all of the rising periods. Place your dough into a baking container approved for the freezer; wrap it for freezing. To bake your bread, remove the wrapping, place the container of frozen dough into a preheated 250-degree oven for 45 minutes, and then bake your bread as stated in your recipe.

Cakes

Cakes with or without frosting may be frozen, but fillings can make your cake soggy. Butter-based frostings freeze well. Remove other types of frosting, including whipped-cream frosting, before freezing your cake. Cakes freeze well for two to three months.

Cheesecakes, whole or leftover, are a favorite for freezing. They keep about four months in your freezer. Thaw the wrapped, frozen cheesecake in your refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours and serve it chilled.

Freezing leftover cake in single-serving sizes keeps you from thawing more cake than you may want available to you at one time.

Cookies

Who can resist warm cookies fresh from the oven? You can freeze cookies in many forms: store purchased or home baked or raw dough to bake later. Use all of these within three months.

Store- or bakery-bought cookies:
Most purchased cookies freeze well, except cream- or marshmallow-filled cookies. Laying sheets of wax or parchment paper between your cookies keeps them from sticking together. Thaw them at room temperature.

Homemade cookies, baked:
Store cooled cookies in rigid freezer containers, placing layers of wax or parchment paper between the cookies. Thaw them at room temperature or place them on a baking sheet in a preheated 350-degree oven for two to three minutes to warm them.

Homemade cookies, raw dough:
Freeze raw dough in rigid freezer containers, freezer paper, or freezer bags.

• For slice-and-bake cookies: Form your cookie dough into a log, wrap the dough in freezer paper, and freeze it. Thaw your dough slightly for easy slicing. Bake according to your recipe instructions.

• For drop cookies: Drop your cookie dough onto a baking sheet, leaving 1 inch between each cookie. Place the baking sheet in your freezer and quick-freeze the dough. Place the frozen cookies in freezer bags for storage. To bake your cookies, place them (frozen is okay) on a baking sheet and bake them as your recipe states.

Label bags of frozen cookie dough with the baking temperature and time.

Pies

You may freeze pies at almost any stage in the preparation process. (Check out Chapter 6 for pie-filling recipes.)

Whole baked pies:
Wrap your pie with freezer wrap or place it in a freezer bag. Thaw it, wrapped, at room temperature for 2 hours; serve.

Whole unbaked pies:
This works best for fruit, mince, and nut pies. Prepare your pie in the pie pan you’ll bake it in.

To reduce sogginess in your crust: Brush the inside of the bottom crust with shortening, add your filling, and brush the top crust with shortening. Cut vents and glaze the top; then wrap it for freezing.

For baking: Remove the freezer wrap and place your frozen pie on a baking sheet in a preheated 450-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees; bake 20 to 30 more minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Pie fillings:
If you love homemade pies, you’ll find having frozen filling on hand a real timesaver for assembling pies, especially when you have a pie shell in the freezer, too. Simply prepare your favorite pie filling, ladle the hot filling into rigid freezer containers, allowing 1/2-inch headspace. Allow the filled containers to cool on your kitchen counter up to 2 hours. Then seal and freeze.

Pie shells, baked or unbaked:
Place your bottom piecrust in a pie pan for baking. Wrap the dough-lined pan in freezer wrap or place it in a freezer bag, stacking multiple filled pie pans on top of each other.

Pie dough, unrolled:
Form your pie dough into a flat, round disc. Wrap it tightly in a piece of plastic wrap and place it in a freezer bag.

When making dough for a double-crusted pie, separate it into two rounds before wrapping and packaging them for freezing.

To use your dough: Thaw it slightly in the refrigerator and roll it out while it’s still chilled. This keeps your dough tender after baking.

Cream pies and meringue pies aren’t suitable for freezing.

Freezing Dairy Products and Nuts

Buying butter and nuts at special prices can keep your food costs in line. Not all dairy products are suitable for freezing. Here are your best choices:

Butter:
Unsalted and salted butter freeze well. Use salted butter within three months because the salt flavor disappears during the freezing process.

Hard cheese:
Freeze hard cheese as a last resort because it crumbles after freezing. Use this cheese within six months.

Soft cheese (like blue cheese): Soft cheese
freezes better than hard cheese. Use soft cheese within one month.

Freezing is perfect for keeping nuts fresh and ready to use. Freeze any size of shelled nut, raw or toasted, in rigid freezer containers or freezer bags. The bags that nuts come in are usually not suitable for freezing. If toasted nuts are desired, toast them and let cool to room temperature before freezing.

Freezing Meat, Poultry, and Fish

Purchase meat, poultry, and fish from stores that practice sanitary handling procedures. If you’re buying at a butcher store or fish market, ask them to wrap it for the freezer. If your food is prepackaged, repackage it for the freezer.

Packing hints

Divide your meat into meal-sized portions, always packaging steaks, chops, and chicken parts individually. Even though you may use more than one piece at a time, freezing and thawing time is less because you’re working with a smaller mass. Freezer bags or freezer wrap are your best packaging materials for these foods.

Never freeze a whole stuffed bird because freezing time is increased and microorganisms may be passed from the poultry to the stuffing. If the stuffing doesn’t reach a high enough temperature during cooking to kill the bacteria, it may be passed to your consumers, making them ill.

Fish and shellfish must be kept chilled from the time they’re caught. Ideally, clean and freeze them immediately if you aren’t using them within 24 hours. Prepare your fish for your freezer based on its size:

If it’s under 2 pounds, remove the tail, head, fins, and internal organs; freeze it whole.

If it’s over 2 pounds, clean it as above. Cut it into fillets or steaks and wrap each piece separately for freezing.

Thawing tips

Thaw your food in its freezer packaging in the refrigerator. For meat, allow 5 hours for each pound; for poultry, allow 2 hours for each pound; and for fish, allow 8 hours for each pound. If your time is limited, thawing it on the kitchen counter at room temperature will take about half the time of thawing it in the refrigerator, but this isn’t the preferred method because bacteria may start to multiply at room temperature.

Chapter 15

Freezing Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs

In This Chapter

Preparing fresh fruits and vegetables for your freezer

Exploring dry-packing and wet-packing methods

Using syrups for packing your fruits in liquid

Discovering perfect blanching

Preserving fresh herbs in your freezer

Freezing fruits and vegetables is the second- best preserving method after canning. Preparing and processing fresh fruits and vegetables for the freezer takes about one-third of the time of water-bath or pressure canning. You can also preserve fresh herbs in your freezer.

The equipment required for freezing food is more than likely already in your kitchen: a freezer, packaging materials (check out Chapter 13), pots, a colander, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and a food scale. After your equipment and food is in order, start freezing!

Mastering Freezing Fruit

When freezing fruit, follow these steps:

1. Select fruit that is free of bruising and not overly ripe.

2. Work with small, manageable quantities, about 8 to 12 cups of fruit, which yields about 2 to 3 quarts frozen.

Note:
Most of the recipes in this chapter use about 2 cups of fruit, which yields 1 pint. You can easily do multiple batches at a time to get the yield you want.

3. Wash your fruit before packing it for freezing.

4. Prepare your fruit for freezing based on your final use.

5. If called for in your recipe, add an antioxidant (refer to Chapter 5).

6. Fill your container, allowing the proper headspace (refer to Table 15-2).

7. Label the package and let your freezer do the rest!

The following sections offer more information on each step in freezing fruit.

Selecting your fruit

The key to a great frozen product starts with perfect, ripe fruit. Choose only perfect fruit, free of bruises and not overly ripe.
Be prepared to process your fruit the day it’s picked or immediately after bringing it home from the store.

Don’t feel like you have to grow your own fruits and vegetables to get the best produce. Local farmer’s markets, food producers, and your supermarket can assist you with selecting your food, telling you when it was harvested or how long it’s been on the shelf.

Preparing your fruit

Fresh fruits require a minimum of preparation before packaging them for the freezer. First you need to wash them and then choose a packing method.

Fruits may be frozen raw, with added sugar, or with added syrup (a mixture of sugar and water). Although adding sugar to your fruit isn’t necessary, it’s preferred. Occasionally, you’ll add an
antioxidant
(an anti-darkening agent) to the liquid to keep your fruit from discoloring.

Following are your packing choices:

Dry or unsweetened pack:
When you’ll be eating the fruit or using it for pies, jams, or jellies, use this method. No sugar or liquid is added. There may be minor changes in the color, flavor, or texture of your fruit.

Dry sugar pack:
This is preferred for most berries unless you’re making pies, jams, or jellies (see the preceding bullet). Place your washed fruit on a shallow tray or a baking sheet. Evenly sift granulated sugar over the fruit (a mesh strainer works well). Then transfer the berries to a bowl or a rigid freezer container and allow them to sit. The longer the berries sit, the more juice is drawn out. (It’s not necessary for the sugar to dissolve as in the wet-pack-with sugar method, below.) When your berries are as juicy as you want them, transfer the berries, including the juice, to a rigid freezer container, allowing the recommended headspace (refer to Table 15-2).

Wet pack with sugar:
Place your fruit in a bowl and sprinkle it with granulated sugar. Allow the fruit to stand until the natural fruit juices drain from the fruit and the sugar dissolves. Transfer your fruit and the juice to a rigid freezer container, allowing the recommended headspace (refer to Table 15-2).

Wet pack with syrup:
Place your fruit in a rigid freezer container, adding syrup (see Table 15-1 for a variety of syrup concentrations) to completely cover the fruit and allowing the recommended headspace (listed in Table 15-2). Your fruit needs to be fully submerged in the syrup before sealing the containers.

To solve the problem of
floating fruit,
fruit rising to the top of the liquid in the jar, wad a piece of moisture-proof paper (foil works well) into a ball. Place it on top of the fruit to force the fruit to stay completely submerged when the container is sealed. Remove the paper after thawing your fruit.

Not all packing methods are suitable for all fruits. Only methods recommended for each fruit are supplied in the recipes in this chapter.

Selecting a storage container

Select your storage container size and fruit-packing method based on how you intend to use your final product. The best choices for fruit packaging materials are rigid freezer containers and freezer bags (see Chapter 13). Use rigid freezer containers when you add liquid to the fruit. Use freezer bags when no liquid is added to your fruit.

Syrup concentrations at a glance

As mentioned previously, syrup is a sugar-and-water combination. Table 15-1 lists the different types of syrups. To make the syrup, you simply dissolve the appropriate amount of sugar into water. You can use either cold or hot water. If using hot water, let the sugar syrup cool to room temperature before adding it to fruit.

The concentration of sugar syrup is up to you, but usually, a thin syrup is used to prevent a loss of flavor, especially if the fruit is naturally sweet or mild flavored. A medium to heavy syrup is used for sour fruits, such as sour cherries or grapes. Different recipes may call the syrup concentrations different things. Simply follow the concentrations as specified in the recipe you are using.

Use these syrup estimates for planning the amount of syrup to make for filling your storage containers:

Sliced fruit or berries:
1/3 to 1/2 cup of syrup for 1 1/2 cups of fruit in a 1-pint container

Halved fruit:
3/4 to 1 cup of syrup for 1 1/2 cups of fruit in a 1-pint container

Headspace guidelines

Headspace is very important when freezing foods. Food expands when frozen, and you need the extra space to allow for this. In addition, if you’re using glass jars and don’t have enough headspace to accommodate the expanding food, the jars can break. To avoid this problem, use the headspace recommendation for the size containers you have (see Table 15-2).