Benefits and harm of frozen vegetables. What vegetables can I freeze?

This article deals with frozen vegetables and how to choose them, how to prepare them.

We live in such latitudes where there is no possibility all year round to have a variety of fresh vegetables. However, their benefit to man is undeniable. In this regard, people went to the trick and began to freeze the vegetables.

Frozen mixture

Is it possible to eat frozen vegetables?

The use of frozen vegetables is one of the simplest and most budgetary ways to get essential vitamins, minerals, microelements in the winter.

In the age of technology, you can safely say that vegetables in the frozen state are sometimes much more useful than vegetables bought in stores. Numerous studies show this.

Frozen vegetables can be eaten

Benefits and harm of frozen vegetables

It's more worth talking about frozen vegetables from a positive point of view.

With modern methods of freezing vegetables retain almost all of their positive properties.

Very little time passes from harvesting to freezing - it is in the interest of the manufacturer. Otherwise, the product will lose its appearance and even if it is frozen it will be seen that it is spoiled.

IMPORTANT: When buying frozen vegetables, pay attention to the composition. In rare cases, manufacturers are resorting to the use of food additives to preserve the appearance, brightness of vegetables.

Short periods of harvesting vegetables guarantee excellent preservation of products.

However, frozen vegetables can cause harm - but only if they were subjected to freezing two or more times. At the time of thawing, vegetables can just get messed up.

Benefits and harms of frozen vegetables

Which vegetables to choose: frozen or fresh?

If there is a choice before frozen vegetables and those that you just ripped off from your garden - there is no doubt that your vegetables will be much fresher and more useful than purchased ones.

Frozen vegetables, although they retain almost all their positive properties, yet they were not grown in your garden. Not by you they were frozen.

If you are talking about vegetables that you frosted yourself, they are also inferior to freshly preserved by the number of vitamins and trace elements stored.

IMPORTANT: Vitamin C. is most affected when freezing vegetables.

However, if you take a product that was ripped off by you, but lay in the refrigerator or outside it for a few days, weeks, then most likely it will give way to the quality of the frozen product.

Vegetables in the refrigerator

You should also think about the benefits of fresh vegetables in stores and supermarkets in the winter. Most likely they will lose in the fight against frozen vegetables.

As a rule, vegetables fall on the shelves in advance, having traveled a long way from far-away southern countries. This indicates the following:

• To preserve the appearance of the product, it is ripped off long before maturation. When meeting fresh vegetables on the shelves of stores and supermarkets, you can be sure that these foods are ripe on the way to their destination, or not at all mature
• To preserve the appearance of vegetables before long transportation, and sometimes during it, chemical processing of products can be used
• During long storage, fresh vegetables lose vitamins and minerals

Vegetable processing

What kinds of frozen vegetables exist?

Given that you can frost almost all existing vegetables, on the shelves of stores and supermarkets you can meet a huge selection of frozen vegetables and their mixtures.

most common vegetables that are in demand from our citizens is:

• Green beans Broccoli Cauliflower
• peas
• Corn Eggplant Pepper
• Brussels sprouts
• Tavern
• mixtures of the above with the addition of vegetables celery, onions, carrots, etc.

A huge selection of vegetables for freezing

The best producers of frozen vegetables

The Russian market presents a huge number of manufacturers of frozen vegetables, mixtures. Leading positions are occupied by Polish producers.

Among the most popular brands are the following:

• "Khortex"
• "Holodnja Zgoda"
• "Agram"
• "Hortino"
• "Bauer"
• "4 seasons"
• "Snezhana"
• "Colors of summer"
• "Elikom"
• "Zhivitsa"
• "World Food", etc.

It is worth noting that most of the time domestic producers are not producers, but collectors and packers of delivered vegetables, for example, from the same Poland.

Do not fixate on a particular brand - try vegetables and you'll find a lot of your favorite freeze bags for yourself.

Vegetables in packages

How does the production of frozen vegetables go?

For frosting vegetables, shock freezing is used.

Previously, to freeze vegetables, it was necessary to place the vegetables in the refrigerator for two to three hours. However, this is already an outdated method that requires a longer time.

Shock frost is a blowing out of vegetables with low temperature air streams. The air temperature is about -35 ° С.For freezing vegetables, twenty to thirty minutes are enough.

The benefits of shock freezing:

• Vegetables in such a short period of time lose less vitamins
• Ice does not crystallize
• The structure of the tissues of the product does not break

Manufacture of frozen vegetables

How to freeze vegetables at home?

For freezing vegetables at home you will need:

• Vegetables
• Packages and containers
• Freezer compartment
• A little time

To start, before freezing vegetables should:

• Vegetables wash, dry, remove the tails, cores, bones, optionally peel and seeds
• If necessary, cut into small pieces, divided into inflorescences, etc.

Sliced ​​Vegetables

Tips for Freezing Vegetables at Home:

• Cauliflower and broccoli should be divided into inflorescences
• Carrots can be cut in circles, straw, cubes
• Peeled off from ponytails and seeds, peppers can be cut into cubes, straws, or can be stored as a whole. Whole peppers can be used for stuffing. Keep them better by folding one into one
• Cabbage is better to freeze already in the form of twisted cabbage rolls.
• . Bean beans should be cut into two or three pieces of
• . Tomatoes can be frozen whole, especially if it's cherry tomatoes, they can also be cut into slices or cubes. A good option would be to freeze the tomato puree, pre-chopping the tomatoes, and then placing the mass in ice-storage forms, cups. After freezing, the mashed potatoes can be removed from the mold and transferred to the
• package. Young cucumbers cut in any shape, they can come in handy for
• salads. Before egg-laying, eggplants should be cut into circles and sprinkled with salt to remove bitterness. Then you should wash the juice and blanch. Frost and baked eggplant
• You can make an assortment - packaged in packages to sweep away vegetables for cooking your favorite dishes.
• . The greens freeze, after washing, drying, cutting and spreading in packages. The greens can be frozen in ice forms, spreading it in cells and bay, for example, with olive oil - an excellent dressing for salads

will appear. The process of freezing green

You can freeze vegetables with preliminary blanching and without it.

Some experts argue that without blanching vegetables, even at the lowest temperatures, are able to ripen, change their structure, appearance. And without hot processing only Bulgarian peppers and onions can be frozen. Also, avoid pre-cooking broccoli - a very fragile vegetable.

Blanch vegetables should be as follows:

• Collect the water in a pan, bring it to a boil. We take a saucepan so that we can put a colander in it.
• Put the previously prepared vegetables in a colander
• Colander with vegetables dip into boiling water.
• . Cover the pan with a lid
• . Wait for the required amount of time.

. The time for blanching depends on the type of vegetable - it can vary from one and a half tofive minutes. For example, five minutes falls on carrots, four - on eggplants, one and a half - on leafy vegetables. The remaining vegetables will be enough for two or three minutes.

Vegetable blanching

Vegetables need to be folded:

• In packages. Packages are often used to store cut vegetables, or pre-packaged in briquettes
• containers. Containers are used to store whole vegetables - the container will not tolerate deformation of the vegetable.

Home preparation of vegetables

It often happens that in the freezers of our refrigerators there is not enough room for a huge number of containers, and you want more freezing vegetables for the winter. To preserve the original look of the whole vegetable with a home-made frost, you can proceed as follows:

• Place the washed and peeled vegetables in a container or on a cutting board
• . Place it in the freezer compartment of the
• refrigerator. After several hours of freezing, take the vegetables from the
• refrigerator. Transfer the vegetables to the
• package.also send back to the freezer

Frozen briquettes from cut vegetables are prepared as follows:

• Cut the vegetables into small pieces, pre-cut the tails, the cores,and, if necessary, removing the seeds and rind
• Tightly folding in a small container
• We send it to the freezer for a few hours
• After removing from the refrigerator container, we lower it into warm water - then the frozen vegetable briquette easily lags behind the walls of the container
• . We place the briquettes inpackage and tightly close

IMPORTANT: The air that gets into the bag, even at the lowest temperature of your freezer, will have a detrimental effect on vegetables.

Briquettes from frozen vegetables

Such manipulation will help to increase the space in the place of storage of frozen products.

Can frozen vegetables be given to a child?

To give frozen vegetables to your child or not, parents themselves should decide.

With proper freezing and storage, vegetables should not harm your child's health, even on the contrary - they will serve as a source of vitamins and minerals.

When choosing frozen vegetables in stores, pay attention to the quality of the product - its color, shape, packaging. It is also important to pay attention to the manufacturer.

Frozen vegetables for children

According to the advice of parents, if it is a question of lure, you should initially pick up vegetables for yourself, try them out, and then offer them to the child - this will help to avoid unpleasant incidents in the form of rashes, etc.

Frozen vegetables can be cooked, fried, stewed. When preparing dishes for children from them, remember that the most useful substances in them will be kept after cooking, especially after cooking on steam.

IMPORTANT: Do not salt vegetables at the beginning of cooking - they will quickly lose useful substances. It is better to use the salt towards the end of the cooking.

Remember that with prolonged cooking, as well as with prolonged defrosting, vegetables lose their appearance very quickly - it sometimes happens to be important moments in the preparation of dishes for small favorites.

A child eats vegetables

How to store frozen vegetables?

The shelf life of vegetables depends on the capabilities of your refrigerator. Be sure to pay attention to the instructions to your equipment.

The temperature and shelf life of the vegetables are as follows:

• -6 ° C - one to two weeks
• -12 ° C - four to six weeks
• -18 ° C - up to the year

Frozen vegetables must be stored at low temperatures without fail. Do not allow them to thaw - this can adversely affect the quality of the product.

As mentioned earlier, for storing vegetables it is necessary to use bags and containers.

Storage of frozen vegetables

Is it possible to buy frozen vegetables: advice and feedback

Recently, most opinions boil down to buying frozen vegetables and it is necessary, especially in winter. Causes:

• The body gains nutrients that are lacking in certain times of the year
• It's convenient and fast

Tips & Feedback:

• Defrosting vegetables should be quick. Important trace elements evaporate, light damages to them, the appearance of
• is lost. Do not wash frozen vegetables - water will wash away all vitamins and spoil the taste.
• Brew better in a small amount of water - the useful properties of
• will be better. Frozen foods have to be halved, than on fresh
• Vegetables should be immersed in boiling water not defrosted
• It is not necessary to store frozen vegetables for a long time - the taste of vegetables changes, the quantity of vitamins decreases.2-3 years - it's a lot of
• Do not buy deformed packaging with frozen vegetables
• With a single freeze, vegetables always crumble, there are no stuck lumps
• If you buy food by weight, then do not choose them in the ice shell

Vegetables in an ice shell

Thanks to the freezing of vegetables, we can enjoy their useful substances all year round. Do not deny yourself this. Love yourself, take care of your health.

VIDEO: Frozen Vegetables