Flash freezing at home?

[TacticalSpeed]

My wife and I grow a lot of fruits and vegetables. We freeze what we can, but of course, not all vegetables can be frozen expecting them to be crisp when thawed.

Are there any options like flash freezing for folks like us?

 

[Ruderunner]

One can get close. You need a fridge close to freezing temperature and a freezer well below freezing.

Pre cool in the fridge then into the freezer.

You need to minimize the time from fresh to rock hard. The longer it takes the bigger the ice crystals get and those do the damage to cell walls causing mush.

Same holds true for meats.

 

[hawil]

What did you end up buying? We are looking for a similar solution.

 

[reder]

We had to replace our fridge as the old one broke down. Of course, we considered freezing, so we chose a Whirlpool wide French door fridge. We have more space for freezing now, and the Whirlpool WRF560SEHZ00 refrigerator instructions were really helpful for figuring out how to use the freezer efficiently. Still, it’s good to find out tips on the process. Thanks!

 

[LionGardener]

My wife and I grow a lot of fruits and vegetables. We freeze what we can, but of course, not all vegetables can be frozen expecting them to be crisp when thawed.

Are there any options like flash freezing for folks like us?

Which fruits are you freezing?
I have frozen watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, raspberries and they seem "ok" for fruit salads during the winter. Most of the vegetables I either, "blanch" and freeze them or bottle them.

 

[Ruderunner]

Beans, corn and peas hold up well during freezing, yes they lose a bit of crunch but not bad.

Beware of making sauce from frozen tomatoes, something changes their flavor and really brings out the acidity. We struggled with scratch made sauce until we figured that out.

The other items on that list have rather high water and sugar content. A large amount of water takes awhile to freeze and adding sugar lowers the freeze point. It might be worthwhile to figure out the sugar content of the individual items and look what the freeze point is. Pre chill to that temperature before going into the deep freeze.

Another thing is how densely things get packed. Filling a bag with berries and tossing that in the freezer will take longer to freeze through than say spreading them on a cookie sheet to freeze before bagging. We do that with things like stuffed cabbage and hamburger patties though mainly for ease of use later.

 

[dirty hands]

I didnt like the taste of frozen tomatoes neither. I tossed a bunch in the compost pile last winter. We can a lot of tomatoes and juice though from local farms.

We freeze corn onions peas and green beans every year again from local farms. Our favorite though has stopped doing the farmstand so we started trying others in the area.

We spread them on sheets to flash freeze before bagging them. We lay the bags flat so they are thin too and stack them.

The only fruit we freeze are blueberries and strawberries. We use the same method but they dont last long because we eat them fast. The strawberries we slice so they are all evenly thin and freeze faster.
We use parchment paper on the baking sheets to protect the flavor and makes it easier to remove whatever we are freezing from the baking sheet.

 

[Ruderunner]

Freezing cooked tomatoes doesn't seem to have an effect on flavor, I guess whatever metabolic changes happen to fresh is canceled by cooking 1st.

And absolutely on the flat bag trick. We have a large chest freezer and have it divided by storage crates. One for beef, one for pork, chicken veggies precooked meals etc. Makes finding things much easier.

 

[Ruderunner]

Depends on freezer dimensions. Milk crates would have worked but we found storage crates for college dorms that were more rectangle and fit better.

 

[dirty hands]

Freezing cooked tomatoes doesn't seem to have an effect on flavor, I guess whatever metabolic changes happen to fresh is canceled by cooking 1st.

And absolutely on the flat bag trick. We have a large chest freezer and have it divided by storage crates. One for beef, one for pork, chicken veggies precooked meals etc. Makes finding things much easier.

We tried to freeze the tomatoes whole and fresh with the stem area cut out about half an inch into the tomato but I didnt like the flavor when we tried to use them.

We have frozen them blanched no skin and those taste good.

We have a large upright freezer.

 

[roadrunner]

I'm confused about the term "Flash freeze", used in the title. Flash freezing requires the use of liquid nitrogen or freeze drying (special appliance). Freezing foods in a normal freezer is in no way comparable to flash freezing.

 

[Logan]

I only freeze red, white, black and pink currants, blueberries, Logan berries and gooseberries, i lay them on the freezer tray until frozen then bag them up, i don't do anything to them, i take the currants off the strings when still frozen.

 

[roadrunner]

OK, now I understand. Whatever technique someone comes up with I'd be interested in how it compares to actually freeze drying in an actual appliance, such as linked below.

As for using nitrogen, I see that as an off-the-table option. Just leave that to people like Bobby Flay

Home Freeze Dryer manufacturer from China

Buy factory price Home Freeze Dryer, senova biotech 4kg Residential Freeze Dryer SS304 Home Food Freeze Dryer JF400 manufacturer from China.

www.senova-biotech.com

 

[Ruderunner]

Liquid nitrogen isn't cheap or easy to find.

 

[Ruderunner]

We tried to freeze the tomatoes whole and fresh with the stem area cut out about half an inch into the tomato but I didnt like the flavor when we tried to use them.

We have frozen them blanched no skin and those taste good.

We have a large upright freezer.

Right, we used to chunk the tomatoes before freezing. Something about freezing fresh tomatoes brings out the acidity.

Cooking or even blanching before freezing seems to prevent whatever chemical reaction brings out the acidity.