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 delightful cruciferous vegetable. I completely understand her original opinion
as for her and most everyone else the options for fresh broccoli were quite limited.
The
reason supermarket broccoli can be mediocre (or downright awful) 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 its natural
sweet goodness has vanished into thin air. Homegrown, freshly picked, tastefully prepared and eaten broccoli is
terrific as it retains and holds all of its natural goodness.
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. Organically-raised vegetables will sometimes harbor an insect or worm and this briny soaking 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 30
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 plant's 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.
Do not skip this
step as your broccoli will continue to release gases if not frozen before
packaging.
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 when Ma Nature is hurling sleet and snow at your kitchen windows.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Finally entering your no-longer-in-business card info into my Contacts, Tom. Darn, now I'm hungry for a stir-fry with broccoli!
ReplyDeleteToday is September 10 and the last of it will be served with dip this weekend. Garden carrots and green beans too.
ReplyDelete