Food freezing – practical tips

Preparing fruit and vegetables for freezing

1. Choose only ripe and healthy fruit and vegetables. They need to be cleaned, washed and if necessary, blanched. Tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and onions do not require blanching.
2. Drain off the water. Fruit and vegetables must be absolutely dry.
3. Prepare the freezing bags. These shouldn’t be leaky and shouldn’t break at low temperatures. It’s best if they have tags and a label to describe the food.
4. Label the portioned foods (don’t forget to write down the date of freezing), place them in the freezer and...it’s done!!!

Which foods shouldn’t be frozen?

• Eggs in their shells. When frozen, the water contained in eggs increases its volume, this leads to the bursting of the shells, or cracking. When they’re cracked, harmful bacteria can get inside the egg.
• You shouldn’t freeze vegetables that have high water contents, such as celery, lettuce or cucumbers. They freeze easily but, when defrosted, they’ll be rotten and soft.
• Soft cheeses containing lots of water, such as ricotta, cottage cheeses or cream cheese. After defrosting they lose their fluffy texture.
• Dietary emulsions, such as mayonnaise or cream. After defrosting they stratify and change their texture.