How to Freeze Garden Broccoli

Yesterday I published my secret to making the best crispy crunchy dill pickles in the world. 

Today is how to put-up your homegrown broccoli for when Old Man Winter is rattling the windows and you have a hankering for something fresh from your garden.

Early in our relationship Jill professed to a dislike of broccoli.  True story.  Until she had fresh-picked broccoli from the garden.  After-which she embraced broccoli as a cruciferous vegetable.  I completely understand her original opinion as her previous options were quite limited.

The reason supermarket broccoli can be mediocre (or downright bad) is that it is old.  Grown somewhere out west - say California - it is picked, packed, shipped by truck to a distribution hub.  After many days it is eventually delivered to the market and displayed in the produce section for any number of additional days before someone comes along and purchases it.  In a word it is OLD and STALE.  And as a consequence all of it's natural sweet goodness has disappeared.

Homegrown, freshly picked, tastefully prepared and eaten broccoli is terrific as it retains and holds all of its natural goodness.

click on images to enlarge

 

Isn't that one of the most handsome heads of broccoli you've ever seen?  That's mine and it has been such a good year for garden broccoli that I had some extra to put-up in the freezer for a future date.  Fresh-picked and promptly frozen broccoli is pretty good too.  Here is how to do it.

Break-apart your broccoli head into manageable florets and soak in a salty brine.  This will drive any critters out that might be lurking in a crevasse.  Drain the brine and soak and rinse twice in cold tap water.  In the meantime start of pot of water on the stove top to boil.





Drain your broccoli in a colander and introduce manageable amounts to the boiling water for no more than 90 seconds.  Immediately remove from the boil and plunge them into a sink of cold tap water.  This process of scalding followed by immediate cooling (called blanching) places the plants enzymes into suspended animation without loss of vitamins or taste.  It is critical not to cook the broccoli completely so keep the scald short and the return to the cold water bath immediately.

Drain your broccoli in a colander (again) and scatter on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.  Place the sheet of broccoli in the freezer (uncovered) until each floret is frozen solid.  This takes less than an hour.

Edit to add:  A reader has pointed out that broccoli will continue to release gases if not frozen before packaging,  Do not skip this step. 


After the florets are solid - package in manageable portions and vacuum seal them with your FoodSaver®. 

Date the packages and keep frozen until ready to use.  When you are preparing stir-fry on a cold February afternoon you can enjoy your garden goodness too.