Let's talk about how to freeze parsley for the winter in the refrigerator. Garden abundance is a balm for the soul of the owners and at the same time a lot of worries. It’s not enough to grow a crop; it also needs to be preserved.
Freezing parsley is an ideal way to preserve fresh herbs, which preserves color and aroma and makes it easy to use in the kitchen. Parsley is the most common seasoning: people like to add it to salads and soups, and use it in folk medicine and cosmetology.No matter how much parsley you store for the winter, it will still not be enough.
But an experienced gardener does not need to be taught how to care for a garden in order to freeze enough vegetables, parsley and other greens for the winter in the refrigerator.
How to properly prepare spices
Harvesting parsley for the winter does not have to be at the end of the season. The more often the branches are cut, the more tender and juicy the fragrant grass grows back. If you do not touch the bushes until the end of summer, the branches will become stiff. The bed with parsley should be of such a size that part of it has time to recover while the owners are working on the other. If you use parsley roots in the kitchen, you need to decide in advance which bushes you need to dig up in the fall.
Harvesting parsley for the winter can be done not only with the help of cold: the grass can be sprinkled with salt, pickled, greens and parsley roots can be dried. The latter option is not as rich in vitamins, but it is good for preparing dry spicy mixtures. Only industrial shock freezing can completely preserve the vitamins and microelements of a product. But if you do everything correctly and quickly at home, you can get the maximum benefit from your preparations.
Fresh, healthy leaves are suitable for winter storage. You should not freeze store-bought parsley for the winter. There, the greens are treated with preservatives that will turn the seasoning into real poison.
Planning and preparation
Every kitchen has its own recipes for how to properly freeze parsley. To make it convenient to use the herb in cooking later, you need to take into account several important points:
- If possible, it is better to allocate a separate drawer in the freezer for vegetables and spices so that the smells of the products do not mix.
- Parsley should be well washed and thoroughly dried. If you do not remove excess moisture, the mass will eventually freeze into one lump.
- Material for packaging must be prepared in advance: zip bags, food foil, ice trays, plastic containers.
- Freezing must be packaged wisely. It’s good if the greens are immediately divided into portions. Why can't you store the seasoning in one large bag? Every time you take out another portion, the entire contents of the bag will come into contact with air and lose their properties.
- The spice should last all winter.
The method for freezing parsley should be tailored to the dishes to which the seasoning will be added. Provide several different options for adding to entrees, salad dressings, and garnishing. There should be a suitable preparation for all your favorite recipes.
Harvesting methods
The first thing to do is prepare the greens for freezing. It must be washed, sorted, freed from dry and limp twigs. Then form the parsley into a bunch and cut off the rough lower stems. The remaining tender leaves must be filled with plenty of water for an hour so that small grains of sand sink to the bottom, and snails and insects crawl to the surface. Afterwards, the greens are sorted out again and washed under running water. Now you can dry it on a kitchen towel or parchment paper. When the excess moisture has evaporated, you can prepare to freeze. We offer several interesting recipes on how to properly freeze parsley for all occasions.
The easiest way to freeze
Chop the parsley, place it on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer.Do not chop the greens too finely: the less the knife touches the leaves, the more nutrients are retained in them. Some housewives simply tear up the grass with their hands. Frozen parsley very fragile, and during the transfer process it will break, crushing even more.
An hour later, the frozen parsley is taken out of the refrigerator and transferred into portioned bags. Such a crumbly preparation will take up less space, be easy to divide into pieces and look beautiful in the soup.
Some people like to freeze a whole bunch of parsley for the winter, simply stuffing it into a bag, but then using such a preparation is very inconvenient. If space in the freezer allows, you can pour the seasoning into a plastic container and close tightly.
You can place the greens on food foil and roll them up and put them in the freezer. Some housewives love this packaging option. In winter, you can unroll the roll and take out as much frozen greens as you need.
Beautiful twigs for decorating holiday dishes
We pack the washed and dried leaves in food foil envelopes and place them so that they are disturbed as little as possible before use. Freezing parsley this way requires great care. When it comes time to use the sprigs, it is important to let the envelope defrost before opening it, otherwise the decoration will break. Curly parsley is especially decorative.
Blanks in the form of ice cubes
Place finely chopped parsley in an ice container and add a small amount of water. This method is suitable for those whose freezer is not too busy for the winter. Once completely frozen, transfer the cubes to a bag.
These cubes can be added directly to a bowl of hot soup - they will add a fresh summer flavor and help the dish cool down faster. Using greens frozen in this way is well suited for facial cryomassage. The cubes whiten and rejuvenate the skin.
Instead of water, the greens can be doused with olive oil - this will be a salad option for freezing. As an alternative, tomato juice will do. Personally, I freeze it with a little lemon juice and honey for savory vegetable salads.
The ideologists of real Cossack borscht prepare cubes of greenery with finely chopped salted lard, then grind them in a mortar with garlic - this is called “pounding” the borscht. Little tricks like these make time-tested recipes easier.
Freezing secrets
A good housewife will never waste anything. The lower stems of parsley can also be used. They are rough, but they are superior in aroma and astringent taste to the leaves; they contain more juice and vitamins. If you grind them in a blender and freeze them in the form of cubes, you can use them as an ingredient for meat broths. The green mass is added to beef or pork after boiling and gives the broth a noble taste and aroma. In winter, such greens can also be used in marinades for fish or chicken.
Before freezing, parsley root must be washed, peeled, cut into small pieces and blanched. It gives any dish a special spicy taste.
Is it possible to freeze parsley mixed with other spices? Certainly! You can and should mix it according to your taste - with onions, dill or wild garlic, to diversify the taste of your favorite dishes with herbs. All that remains is to choose how to freeze parsley for the winter in order to use it beneficially and in a variety of ways.
Greens should not be defrosted repeatedly - this will harm them. The grass will lose its properties and darken. If for some reason you have to empty the freezer, the frozen food can be transferred to sterilized glass jars and filled with a simple marinade.
Properly prepared frozen parsley can be safely stored until the next gardening season. In order for it to come sooner, you need to take care of the bed with greenery - cover it for the winter, and stretch the film in the spring. In March-April it will be possible to add the first fresh leaves to food.
