G'day mates,

It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
about $2.50/kg.

Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
week, so questions arise:

1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?

2. For how long? And

3. How?

Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

In article >,
(Phred) wrote:

> G'day mates,
>
> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
> about $2.50/kg.
>
> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
> week, so questions arise:
>
> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>
> 2. For how long? And
>
> 3. How?
>
> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.

You can freeze your broccoli by blanching it, letting it cool, then
putting it in plastic bags, and freezing them. Put a few per bag and
make sure you seal the bags well to prevent air from getting in them.

In article >, Stan Horwitz > wrote:
>In article >,
> (Phred) wrote:
>>
>> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
>> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
>> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
>> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
>> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
>> about $2.50/kg.
>>
>> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
>> week, so questions arise:
>>
>> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>>
>> 2. For how long? And
>>
>> 3. How?
>>
>> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
>> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.
>
>You can freeze your broccoli by blanching it, letting it cool, then
>putting it in plastic bags, and freezing them. Put a few per bag and
>make sure you seal the bags well to prevent air from getting in them.

G'day Stan and George,

Thanks very much for your responses.

At first I thought George had just pointed me at a *canning* page, but
then I noticed the "Freezing" link in the LH margin! Thanks!
(Blanching before freezing seems to be quite a science! :-)


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

In article >,
(Phred) wrote:

> G'day Stan and George,
>
> Thanks very much for your responses.
>
> At first I thought George had just pointed me at a *canning* page, but
> then I noticed the "Freezing" link in the LH margin! Thanks!
> (Blanching before freezing seems to be quite a science! :-)
>
> Cheers, Phred.

Be sure you have lots of ice water at the ready to chill the blanched
broccoli immediately. And take the time to drain it very well -- pat it
with a dry towel.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller - good news 4-6-2009
"What you say about someone else says more
about you than it does about the other person."

Stan Horwitz wrote:

> You can freeze your broccoli by blanching it, letting it cool, then
> putting it in plastic bags, and freezing them. Put a few per bag and
> make sure you seal the bags well to prevent air from getting in them.

If a vegetable is blanched for freezing, it needs to be shocked in ice
water immediately after the blanching to halt the cooking process. Just
letting it slowly cool would let it continue to cook.

Phred wrote:
> G'day mates,
>
> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
> about $2.50/kg.
>
> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
> week, so questions arise:
>
> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>
> 2. For how long? And
>
> 3. How?
>
> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.
>
> Cheers, Phred.
>

Here's your best shot at getting it done properly. You might try
rec.food.preserving too. It's easy enough to blanch and freeze for
storage but regular freezer bags can lead to freezer burn. I vacuum seal
my broccoli after blanching and it can last up to a year.

Dependent upon where you live it can be fairly easy to grow also.

George Shirley wrote:
> Phred wrote:
>> G'day mates,
>>
>> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
>> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
>> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
>> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
>> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
>> about $2.50/kg.
>>
>> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
>> week, so questions arise:
>>
>> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>>
>> 2. For how long? And
>> 3. How?
>>
>> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
>> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.
>>
>> Cheers, Phred.
>>
>
> Here's your best shot at getting it done properly. You might try
> rec.food.preserving too. It's easy enough to blanch and freeze for
> storage but regular freezer bags can lead to freezer burn. I vacuum seal
> my broccoli after blanching and it can last up to a year.
>
> Dependent upon where you live it can be fairly easy to grow also.

sorry, forgot to add the URL:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html

"George Shirley" > wrote in message
.. .
> George Shirley wrote:
>> Phred wrote:
>>> G'day mates,
>>>
>>> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
>>> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
>>> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
>>> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
>>> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
>>> about $2.50/kg.
>>>
>>> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a week,
>>> so questions arise:
>>>
>>> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>>>
>>> 2. For how long? And
>>> 3. How?
>>>
>>> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
>>> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.
>>>
>>> Cheers, Phred.
>>>
>>
>> Here's your best shot at getting it done properly. You might try
>> rec.food.preserving too. It's easy enough to blanch and freeze for
>> storage but regular freezer bags can lead to freezer burn. I vacuum seal
>> my broccoli after blanching and it can last up to a year.
>>
>> Dependent upon where you live it can be fairly easy to grow also.
>
> sorry, forgot to add the URL:
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...ions_usda.html

Way kewl site. Thanks.

TFM®

On Apr 28, 6:05*am, (Phred) wrote:
> G'day mates,
>
> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
> the first 50 years or so! *But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
> about $2.50/kg.
>
> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
> week, so questions arise:
>
> * *1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>
> * *2. For how long? *And
>
> * *3. How?
>
> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? *TIA.
>
> Cheers, Phred.

Youch! Round here, Broccoli is going for $.99 a pound, ~$2 per kilo.
It doesn't usually get above $2 a pound, even in the off season.

It is a cool-weather crop, but the austral continents should be coming
into season for it now.

maxine in ri expecting temps in the upper 30(c)'s today

In article >, maxine > wrote:
>On Apr 28, 6:05=A0am, (Phred) wrote:
>> G'day mates,
>>
>> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
>> the first 50 years or so! =A0But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
>> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
>> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
>> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
>> about $2.50/kg.
>>
>> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
>> week, so questions arise:
>>
>>1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>>
>>2. For how long? And
>>
>>3. How?
>>
>> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
>> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? =A0TIA.
>
>Youch! Round here, Broccoli is going for $.99 a pound, ~$2 per kilo.
>It doesn't usually get above $2 a pound, even in the off season.
>
>It is a cool-weather crop, but the austral continents should be coming
>into season for it now.

Maybe that's why we're starting to see it on special -- I hope the
trend persists. :-)

>maxine in ri expecting temps in the upper 30(c)'s today

Starting to get cooler here now: 12.5 C on the grass last night (wet
bulb) but still 31 C in the house today. Quite pleasant really if out
of the direct sun because there was quite a cool breeze.

But we're still getting some tropical low pressure systems around the
place, including cyclone Kirrily north of Darwin (up near Indonesia)
which is unusual, but not unprecedented, at this time of year.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

"maxine" > wrote in message
...
On Apr 28, 6:05 am, (Phred) wrote:
> G'day mates,
>
> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
> about $2.50/kg.
>
> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
> week, so questions arise:
>
> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>
> 2. For how long? And
>
> 3. How?
>
> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.
>
> Cheers, Phred.

Youch! Round here, Broccoli is going for $.99 a pound, ~$2 per kilo.
It doesn't usually get above $2 a pound, even in the off season.

It is a cool-weather crop, but the austral continents should be coming
into season for it now.

============

I think for the aussies broccoli comes into estrus.

It's kind of silly to buy fresh broccoli and then freeze it.
Broccoli is a crop that is in season 27/7/365.25

Commercially frozen broccoli is readily available 24/7/365.25 as well.

And broccoli (fresh or frozen) is always pretty much the same price
24/7/365.25

That's a good part of why broccoli is one of the silliest of home gardening
crops.

On Apr 28, 7:01*am, "brooklyn1" > wrote:
>
> Commercially frozen broccoli is readily available 24/7/365.25 as well.
>
> And broccoli (fresh or frozen) is always pretty much the same price
> 24/7/365.25
>
> That's a good part of why broccoli is one of the silliest of home gardening
> crops.-

If economics were the primary reason for home gardening you'd be
right, but as you've often pointed out that's not why we garden.
Broccoli is a cool season crop here in SoCal and we grow it about
every other year. It makes a commanding presence in the plot and
always produces a harvest we feel good about. We happen to especially
like the stalks sliced for stirfries and salads and as dippers and the
broccoli heads that continue to grow after you harvest the central
head make smaller florets and more stalks. At least that's what we
tell ourselves...gardeners can be inventive if pushed to justify the
crops that make no economic sense.

As to the OP, we've frozen quite a bit of broccoli that had to be
harvested before we wanted to eat it. Our advice would be to blanch
it no more than half as long as the publications say and move it to
the ice bath immediately. The longer you blanch it, the limper the
ultimate product will be. -aem


-aem

maxine wrote:
> On Apr 28, 6:05 am, (Phred) wrote:
>> G'day mates,
>>
>> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
>> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
>> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
>> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
>> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
>> about $2.50/kg.
>>
>> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
>> week, so questions arise:
>>
>> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>>
>> 2. For how long? And
>>
>> 3. How?
>>
>> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
>> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.
>>
>> Cheers, Phred.
>
> Youch! Round here, Broccoli is going for $.99 a pound, ~$2 per kilo.
> It doesn't usually get above $2 a pound, even in the off season.

Same here, the only problem is that it is nearly impossible to find it
anymore with the best part (stalk) still attached.


>
> It is a cool-weather crop, but the austral continents should be coming
> into season for it now.
>
> maxine in ri expecting temps in the upper 30(c)'s today

In article >,
(Phred) wrote:

> G'day mates,
>
> It turns out I'm addicted to broccoli in spite of never seeing it for
> the first 50 years or so! But the damn stuff is often pretty bloody
> expensive ($8 to $9 per kg most times lately, and even the frozen
> packets are around $4 for 500 g) so I was pleased to see some nice
> looking heads on special at our second tier supermarket this week, for
> about $2.50/kg.
>
> Obviously, there's a limit to how much even an addict can eat in a
> week, so questions arise:
>
> 1. How well can it be stored frozen using simple home technology?
>
> 2. For how long? And
>
> 3. How?
>
> Anyone care to offer opinions and advice based on experience with
> successfully freezing broccoli or similar vegetables, please? TIA.
>
> Cheers, Phred.

Blanch before freezing. Works well!
Blanching works for most frozen veggie preservation.
--
Peace! Om

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
It's about learning to dance in the rain.
-- Anon.

Omelet wrote:

> Blanch before freezing. Works well!
> Blanching works for most frozen veggie preservation.

And put broccoli in a cold/ice water bath to stop the cooking from the
blanch. Certain veggies do well with salt in the water.

We use a FoodSaver here and I find that broccoli (and other veggies)
don't tend to crush as easily as they could if I put them on a cookie
sheet and freeze them before bagging them.

--Lin

In article >,
Lin > wrote:

> Omelet wrote:
>
> > Blanch before freezing. Works well!
> > Blanching works for most frozen veggie preservation.
>
> And put broccoli in a cold/ice water bath to stop the cooking from the
> blanch. Certain veggies do well with salt in the water.
>
> We use a FoodSaver here and I find that broccoli (and other veggies)
> don't tend to crush as easily as they could if I put them on a cookie
> sheet and freeze them before bagging them.
>
> --Lin

I've used that technique for blanching and freezing too. Plus it makes
things easier to handle.
--
Peace! Om

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
It's about learning to dance in the rain.
-- Anon.

Lin wrote:
> Omelet wrote:
>
>> Blanch before freezing. Works well!
>> Blanching works for most frozen veggie preservation.
>
> And put broccoli in a cold/ice water bath to stop the cooking from the
> blanch. Certain veggies do well with salt in the water.
>
> We use a FoodSaver here and I find that broccoli (and other veggies)
> don't tend to crush as easily as they could if I put them on a cookie
> sheet and freeze them before bagging them.
>
> --Lin

I do broccoli, cauliflower and most greens that way Lin, you're right in
that they don't easily crush but it also makes it easier to vac seal
them, no water under the seal point.

"George Shirley" > wrote in message
news
> Lin wrote:
>> Omelet wrote:
>>
>>> Blanch before freezing. Works well!
>>> Blanching works for most frozen veggie preservation.
>>
>> And put broccoli in a cold/ice water bath to stop the cooking from the
>> blanch. Certain veggies do well with salt in the water.
>>
>> We use a FoodSaver here and I find that broccoli (and other veggies)
>> don't tend to crush as easily as they could if I put them on a cookie
>> sheet and freeze them before bagging them.
>>
>> --Lin
>
> I do broccoli, cauliflower and most greens that way Lin, you're right in
> that they don't easily crush but it also makes it easier to vac seal them,
> no water under the seal point.

It's really silly to freeze these types of veggies, aside from that there is
no economic benefit, but unless one has the ability to *flash freeze* there
is no point whatsoever.

brooklyn1 wrote:

> It's really silly to freeze these types of veggies, aside from that there is
> no economic benefit, but unless one has the ability to *flash freeze* there
> is no point whatsoever.
>
THere is if one grows there own and wants to use it later, or as in
Phred's said he lives in a country that it apparently is much cheaper to
grow or buy at certain times and not others. Perhaps an unexpected
bumper crop came in and they want to enjoy the fruits of their own
labors and practice a little self sufficiency

brooklyn1 wrote:
> "George Shirley" > wrote in message
> news
>> Lin wrote:
>>> Omelet wrote:
>>>
>>>> Blanch before freezing. Works well!
>>>> Blanching works for most frozen veggie preservation.
>>> And put broccoli in a cold/ice water bath to stop the cooking from the
>>> blanch. Certain veggies do well with salt in the water.
>>>
>>> We use a FoodSaver here and I find that broccoli (and other veggies)
>>> don't tend to crush as easily as they could if I put them on a cookie
>>> sheet and freeze them before bagging them.
>>>
>>> --Lin
>> I do broccoli, cauliflower and most greens that way Lin, you're right in
>> that they don't easily crush but it also makes it easier to vac seal them,
>> no water under the seal point.
>
> It's really silly to freeze these types of veggies, aside from that there is
> no economic benefit, but unless one has the ability to *flash freeze* there
> is no point whatsoever.
>
>
I had a head of broccoflower that I got at the 99.9¢ store. I needed to
cook the whole head or it would spoil, but it was too much for just the
two of us. We ate part of it in an au gratin and I used a slotted spoon
to transfer the rest of it into a Glad vacuum bag. Then I sucked out the
air with the little gizmo and popped it, still a bit warm, into the freezer.

The rest of dinner was asparagus spears with lemon and butter and crab
cakes with roasted red and yellow pepper coulis. I'm stuffed!

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.