Is it possible to freeze a pumpkin while retaining the maximum of useful properties: we will study all possible options and choose the best

Pumpkin is a dietary product rich in vitamins and microelements. The benefits of this vegetable can hardly be overestimated. Some late varieties are stored in a cellar or apartment until spring. Well, until the next harvest, freezing will help preserve this vegetable. What methods of freezing, storing and using this product exist, read our article.

Is it possible to freeze pumpkin for the winter

Not everyone knows that the "orange beauty" can be frozen... There is an opinion that after defrosting the vegetable acquires a “rubbery” taste, becomes watery and unsuitable for food. Yes, this happens if the product is not frozen correctly.

Semi-finished pumpkin products retain almost all of their useful properties and are in no way inferior to fresh vegetables. Most meals can also be made with frozen pumpkin. This makes the cooking process easier and faster.

The only drawback of this storage method is that frozen pumpkin takes up a lot of space in the refrigerator. But in the presence of a large freezer, this minus will not be.

Below we will show you how to properly freeze a vegetable to preserve not only useful properties, but also taste. Let's start by preparing the product for freezing.

Freezing preparation

For freezing for the winter, choose an unripe fruit... Fridge-free slices will not work - only whole vegetables. Make sure that the tail of the pumpkin is not rotten.

Preparing a vegetable for freezing consists in washing and cleaning it:

1. First of all, the pumpkin is thoroughly washed under running water. This can also be done with a special liquid soap for fruits and vegetables.
2. The vegetable is cut into two parts and the fibers are scraped out together with the seeds. Only the hard part is suitable for freezing.

Attention! Pumpkin seeds are not discarded. They are used both for planting the next harvest and for eating. The seeds contain a huge amount of trace elements and amino acids that are useful for the human body.

Freezing options

Freeze pumpkin both fresh and after preliminary heat treatment... Let's talk about each option in detail.

Divided into large parts

This is the easiest and fastest way to freeze pumpkin... The vegetable, peeled and dried with a paper towel, is cut into slices / sticks ranging in size from 2-3 cm in width and up to 10 cm in length. The pieces are laid out on a baking sheet or board and, covered with cling film on top, are sent to the freezer for 2-3 hours. Then the frozen cubes are transferred to a container or bags and put back for further storage.

Attention! The pumpkin frozen in this way, after thawing, is used for making pureed soups, cereals, stewing with meat and preparing side dishes.

Cut into small pieces / cubes

The technology is the same as in the previous version... Only the size and shape are chosen depending on the future use.

Puree

Cut the pumpkin into 2-3 cm cubes... To make mashed potatoes, the vegetable is boiled or baked in the oven, multicooker or microwave.When it becomes soft, it is brought with a blender or fork to a mushy mass. And after complete cooling, they are packed in bags or containers and sent to the freezer.

Advice! If you are freezing a pumpkin for baby food, it is best to pack the vegetable puree into small molds. Ice molds are ideal.

Chopped on a grater

Pumpkin frozen this way is great for pancakes and pies... Fresh vegetable grated on a coarse grater is laid out in bags and frozen. Preliminary heat treatment is not required in this case.

Boiled

Boiled pumpkin is not only stored in the freezer for 1-2 months longer than fresh, but also does not lose its taste and color at all... You can cook the vegetable with the peel - it can be easily removed after cooking.

You can cook pumpkin on the stove:

1. Large pumpkin slices are placed in boiling water and boiled until tender for 10-15 minutes.
2. The finished vegetable is thrown into a colander to glass the water.
3. Cool and place in containers in a freezer. But most often cooked pumpkin is mashed and frozen in this form.

Advice! Boil pumpkin and steam - then more vitamins are stored in the vegetable. The microwave oven speeds up the cooking process.

Baked

The vegetable is baked in large, unpeeled wedges or peeled small cubes. Cooking time depends on the size of the pieces, maximum 40 minutes at 180 ° C.

Baked pumpkin, like boiled pumpkin, is most often frozen in the form of mashed potatoes... But you can send it to storage in the freezer and in small cubes. In this case, the cooled pumpkin is laid out on a baking sheet or board, covered with cling film and placed in the freezer for a day. Only the next day, the cubes are poured into a bag for further storage.

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Blanched

Vegetables prepared for freezing in this way, even after completely defrosting, will not be watery. Preparation for freezing blanched pumpkin is the same as freezing fresh pumpkin in chunks. Only after drying, the vegetable cubes are laid out in a colander and dipped in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Thereafter, immediately placed in cold water. Then let the pumpkin pieces dry again, put them on a baking sheet and place them in the freezer. After 1-2 hours the workpiece is packed in bags and sent back for long-term storage.

In a vacuum

Freeze the product and use a vacuum sealer... For this, the vegetable is cut into large cubes / slices and placed in special bags for this device. In a vacuum, the workpiece is stored even longer than in a conventional container.

Storage conditions and periods

Store frozen pumpkin in tight bags for freezing or in a sealed container. Ideally, set aside a separate box for storing vegetables in the freezer. Then the workpieces will definitely not be saturated with the smells of raw meat and fish. In the freezer, pumpkin frozen at a temperature of -18 ° C and below is stored for up to 10-12 months.

Further application

Frozen pumpkin is used for cooking cereals, soups, first and second courses, salads, sauces and various pastries. Desserts are made from orange vegetables and jelly is cooked. It perfectly complements meat dishes. And for baby food it is simply irreplaceable - it contains many vitamins and minerals that are useful for the growth and development of the baby.

Grated pumpkin, without defrosting, is added to almost ready-made dishesmake pancakes out of it. When baked, it perfectly complements cereals and side dishes, where it is also added at the end of cooking / frying. Any dish with a bright juicy vegetable will become not only healthy, but also festive.

For baby food

Complementary pumpkin is frozen separately, and as part of a vegetable mixture. In baby food, it is combined with zucchini, broccoli and carrots.The mixture can be frozen in puree or small cubes.

With carrots and zucchini

This recipe puree is ideal for baby foods... It is enough to simply heat such a workpiece.

Ingredients:

• pumpkin;
• zucchini;
• carrot.

All ingredients are taken in equal proportions.

Cooking process:

1. All vegetables are washed and cleaned.
2. The pumpkin is cut into large slices, the squash is cut into two halves.
3. The vegetables are placed in an oven preheated to 180 ° C and baked for about 40 minutes.
4. Cool, separate the pulp from the pumpkin and zucchini, mix and puree.
5. Vegetable puree is laid out in portions in packages (cups for yogurt are also suitable) and sent to freeze.

For baking

Pies, pancakes, pancakes, cookies will become even tastier and more flavorful with an orange vegetable... Pumpkin makes a variety of casseroles.

Casserole

This fragrant dish will appeal to even those who do not like pure pumpkin. It is suitable for both breakfast and dinner.

Ingredients:

• frozen pumpkin - 0.5 kg;
• apples - 200 g;
• chicken eggs - 2-3 pcs.;
• semolina - 100 g;
• butter - 150 g;
• granulated sugar - 1 tbsp. l .;
• soda - on the tip of a knife;
• salt to taste.

Cooking process:

1. For this dish, pumpkin is suitable, frozen in mashed potatoes, cubed or baked. If the pumpkin is raw, it is boiled until tender, mashed and cooled. In other cases, the vegetable is simply defrosted and the excess liquid is drained or added without defrosting to the rest of the ingredients.
2. Grated apples, semolina, butter and soda are added to the pumpkin puree. All ingredients are mixed.
3. The resulting mixture is poured with eggs, beaten with sugar and laid out in a baking dish, oiled or lined with parchment paper.
4. Pumpkin casserole is baked in the oven at 200 ° C for about half an hour. The exact cooking time depends on the oven.

It can be useful:

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For first and second courses

For most hot meals frozen pumpkin preparations do not even require special defrosting. The pieces are simply placed in boiling water, broth or milk and cooked until tender.

Cream soup

This simple vitamin soup will appeal to many... And adding fried bacon or croutons to it can make it more satisfying.

Ingredients:

• frozen pumpkin in pieces - 0.5 kg;
• potatoes - 5 pcs.;
• onion - 1 pc .;
• carrots - 1 pc.;
• cream 10-20% fat - 0.5 l;
• spices (salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, nutmeg) - to taste;
• greens - for serving;
• crackers and bacon - optional.

Cooking process:

1. Peeled vegetables are cut into pieces of any shape. Pumpkin frozen in cubes is not previously thawed.
2. Put the vegetables in a saucepan and fill with water so that it completely covers all the vegetables. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat until tender (until all vegetables are tender).
3. The water is drained, and the boiled vegetables are pureed with a blender, pusher or fork.
4. Spices are added to the resulting vegetable mass, mixed thoroughly and heated cream is added.
5. Bacon is cut into thin strips and fried over high heat.
6. Crackers, if desired, are made as follows: the bread is cut into cubes, sprinkled with spices and sprinkled with oil. In the oven at 180-200 ° C, they will be ready in 15 minutes.
7. Serve cream soup, garnished with green onions or parsley. Add bacon and croutons to a plate just before serving.

How to defrost properly before use

The defrosting process directly depends on the method of freezing and further use of the product. There are several ways:

1. Pumpkin puree is thawed in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf or in the microwave.
2. For cooking porridge or stew do not defrost beforehand. When frozen, it is placed in boiling water or milk, and then the rest of the ingredients are laid out.
3. Grated pumpkin is also added without preliminary defrosting shortly before the end of cooking.

Important! Already defrosted product must not be re-frozen. Therefore, vegetables should be packaged in portions so that no excess remains.

Tips & Tricks

To get the most out of your frozen vegetable, there are a few tricks you need to know. Follow these guidelines, and you will succeed:

1. Not all pumpkin varieties are suitable for freezing.... It is preferable to take for these purposes vegetables of an elongated shape with bright pulp. The best varieties are Butternat, Muscatnaya, Divo, Harlequin, Acorn, Gribovskaya, Gileya, Kherson, Bylinka. Light, early varieties do not tolerate low temperatures.
2. Choose a pumpkin with no skin defects... If the fruit has begun to rot, then at sub-zero temperatures it will continue to deteriorate. After harvesting, the pumpkin should be kept for a week at room temperature or in a dry cellar. This will remove excess moisture and prepare it for long-term storage.
3. So that after defrosting the pumpkin, frozen raw, was not watery, before freezing it is blanched in boiling water (3-4 minutes) or dried in the oven (5-10 minutes).
4. The smallest storage option frozen pumpkin - mashed potatoes in packages, spread out in layers.
5. The benefits of pumpkin dishes can be increasedby adding butter or milk to them. Vegetable beta-carotene is better absorbed with vegetable or animal fats. But it is worth doing this already in the cooking process.
6. To get rid of excess moisture when frying frozen pumpkin, it is preliminarily salted and left for 1-2 hours. After that, it remains only to blot the vegetable with a paper towel.

Conclusion

When frozen, pumpkin does not lose its beneficial properties. The main thing is to select the right fruits for harvesting. There are many options for freezing this vegetable, each housewife will find it convenient for herself, depending on the subsequent use.

Frozen pumpkin is used in the preparation of a variety of dishes, including baby foods.