QUESTION : I’m harvest a peck of Swiss chard . Can I freeze Swiss chard without blanching ? -Cam S.
ANSWER : The reasonableness people usually blanch leafy viridity before stop dead them is to stop the action mechanism of enzymes inside the folio that can make the green acerb if they ’re frozen without taking the clip to blanch them . Blanching also preserves the nutrient inside of chard , keeping the Green just as goodish and gird as when they went into the deep-freeze . However , if you do n’t bear in mind the loss of some food , it ’s potential that your green wo n’t sour bitter in the deep freezer as long as they ’re only put in frozen for a short while .
This is a striking or pretermit scenario that you ca n’t rely on , though , so if you do choose to freezeSwiss chardwithout blanching it first , make certain to taste the jet before you prepare and serve them , because they might have become too bitter to be enjoyed . Because of the risk of infection of acerbity and nutritious loss if you do n’t blanch , and insure as how blanching literally takes just a few minutes , it ’s really best to blanch before freezing . Here ’s how to do it .
For the healthiest greens that retain the most garden - reinvigorated nourishment possible , you should strive to freeze your Swiss chard within six 60 minutes of glean it . Begin by wash out the leaves carefully to remove shite , insects , and anything else that may have hitched a drive into your kitchen from the garden . Some people like to let their leafy vegetable soak in the nerveless water for 10 minutes or longsighted before they begin make clean the leaves , but whether or not you take this step is a matter of personal predilection .
you’re able to fill a with child bowl with nerveless water supply , execute the faucet over a colander with the Swiss chard indoors , or use the show-stopper to plug the watershed of your kitchen sink and fulfil it up with water . Then drop some time cleaning each folio individually , examining the little crevices of the fore and the crack in each leaf that can obscure ooze to verify they ’re really clean-living . Do this gently so you do n’t bruise or otherwise damage your tasty homegrown chard .
While you ’re washing your Swiss chard , take the opportunity to dissever the leave of absence from the stems . Just use a knife or kitchen shears to snip the stem away from the leaf . Then chop up the leaves however you usually prep them for cooking . This is really up to each individual ’s preference and how the chard is likely to be train later on .
you could do a rough chop , slice leaves into halves or quarters , or use the chiffonade proficiency to slice up the spinach beet into thin ribbons . For a chiffonade , just pile the leafy vegetable on top of one another and wheel them into a cigar shape , then slice thinly to make pretty , delicate narrow strips that will cook quick and equally . As an added bonus , your dinner guests wo n’t find out themselves chasing the last snack or two of chard that ’s been sliced in a chiffonade around their plates test to pile it onto their eating utensil , because the thin ribbon of honey oil are just as easy to twirl around a fork as spaghetti noodles .
The base of Beta vulgaris cicla are edible , so you’re able to save them and prepare them , too . However , the compact stanch will take longer to prepare than the more delicate leaves — so most people do n’t cook them at the same metre and prepare them using different method . That ’s why we commend you transfer the prow before freeze the chard , and store the stems in a container separate from the leaves .
If you do plan to blanch your chard plant before freeze it , your next whole step will be to add a large plenty of water to a rolling boil . utilise a genuinely big green goddess like a stockpot , not something average large - ish like a saucepan , because blanch happen very rapidly and trust on plenty of boiling water supply circumvent the vegetables . Before you add any greens to the water , also organise a big bowl of body of water chilled by two or three cup of ice-skating rink block , and set this ice bathtub aside near where you ’ll be working .
Now it ’s time to summate the chard plant to the simmering water . If you ’re blench more than four cups of Swiss chard at a time , you ’ll involve to do this in flock , because undertake to parboil more than four cup of super acid at once wo n’t give you optimum results as the leave will be overcrowded . You ’ll also need to blanch the leave separately from the stems .
Set a kitchen timekeeper for two arcminute — that ’s all the time the chard leave need in the stewing water . When the two minutes are up , use a slotted spoon to remove the chard leave from the boiling water and transfer them to the Methedrine bath you got quick earlier . Leave the parting to soak in the ice weewee for two more minutes , then use a salad spinster , colander , paper towels , or a dish aerial towel to dry out the park before moving on . The stems of the chard need to persist in the boiling water and the glass water bath for three proceedings each or else of two . Remember to keep the root word and leaves freestanding when you dispatch them from the ice pee to dry .
Next , get ready to suspend your greens by sort them into dowry - sized batches . You know best what will work for you and your subroutine . An soul who cooks for themselves may want one - loving cup servings , while a chef with a fully grown family might need some batches that are three or four cups for those time you need to make a big mess of park . Squeeze each serve with your hired man to remove any spare water and imprint the portion into a more solid mass .
lie in the servings on a cookie sheet , without affecting , and immobilize them for an hour or two so they ’ll detain together in their portions and wo n’t stick to one another . Then you’re able to transfer them to your long - full term storage container , whether that ’s a deep-freeze good plastic zipper bag or a shaping food storage container . Label the containers with what ’s inwardly and the escort — for the best chard , you should thaw and prepare blanched commons within 10 to 12 months . Chard that is n’t blanch before it ’s frozen has a much shorter expiration date , top out at about four weeks .
