DIY Fresh-Frozen Broccoli

Imagine Old Man Winter is rattling the windows and you have a hankering for something fresh from your garden.  Here are step-by-step instructions on how to freeze fresh broccoli from your garden or friendly farmer's market.  Garden to freezer in a matter of a few hours.          

Early in our relationship Jill confessed to a dislike of broccoli.  That is until she had fresh-picked broccoli from the garden.  After-which she embraced this cruciferous vegetable with enthusiasm.  I completely understood 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 a period of time 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 disappeared.       

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 - and putting-up a batch was one of Saturday's tasks.   Instructions are as follows:          

Break-apart your broccoli head into manageable florets and soak in a salty brine.  I go to great lengths to avoid using pesticides on my vegetables so this is the first of two steps to 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 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.  The scald is the second step ending any surviving critters.    

Drain your broccoli in a colander (again) or run it thru a salad spinner extracting as much water as you can.  Scatter the florets on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.  Place the sheet of broccoli in the freezer (uncovered) until each floret is frozen solid.  This only takes a couple of hours but do not skip this step.  Broccoli will continue to release gases of 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 too.