How to Blanch and Freeze Cauliflower
As you all know…we plant a backyard garden every year. We love to grow our own bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cantaloupe, watermelon, corn, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Sometimes we add a few additional items, depending on space and time for that particular year.
Every year when my cauliflower is ready for harvesting, I usually end up with 8+ heads at a time. Obviously we can’t eat 8 of them in a week! So, I resort to blanching and freezing my cauliflower for later use. Here’s how I do it.
Blanching:
I wash all of my heads under cool running water and in a colander. I cut off the thick stalk and throw it away. I fill up a large bowl with cool water and I add about 4-5 teaspoons of salt. I toss the cauliflower into the bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it sit on my kitchen counter for about 90 minutes or so. I then pour it back into the colander and rinse all of the salty water off of it.
I use my tempered glass cutting board to chop the cauliflower into pieces. I remove any areas that look a little brownish or damaged. Some people chop up the stem into small pieces, but I don’t. I use mostly the florets.
You’ll want to fill up a large pot with water and add a teaspoon of salt to the water. Bring it to a full boil. Pour the florets into the boiling water and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat immediately and pour it back into the colander with cold running tap water running over it. You need to cool it down quickly to stop the cooking process. Some people sit their colander into a bowl of ice water. I find that I can get mine completely cool with 1 1/2 minutes by just running cold tap water over it.
Freezing:
Place a clean folded up kitchen towel on your counter. Place 4 paper towels on top. Lay the florets onto the paper towels. Use additional paper towels to blot off as much water that you can. Since it’s just the two of us (we’re empty nesters), I freeze my florets in 4 cup portions in zipper-close quart-size freezer bags. You’ll want to purge out as much of the air that you can and then close them shut. Label the bags and place them into the freezer.
Thawing:
I like to thaw one bag at a time out overnight in the refrigerator. If you’re in a hurry, you can use the defrost setting on your microwave. Just pour the frozen cauliflower into a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel and defrost in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes on 50% power.
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