Have you ever had a moment where you froze your food and when you try to defrost or wait for it to thaw out, it loses its flavor or has this weird freezer burn taste? We want to show you how to freeze celery without losing its color or taste.
Celery is rich in vitamins and minerals with a low glycemic index. Celery has vitamins A, K, and C, plus minerals like potassium and folate. It’s also low in sodium. It is also low on the glycemic index, meaning it has a slow, steady effect on your blood sugar.
Celery also is good for digestion and inflammation because of its approximately 25 anti-inflammatory compounds that can offer protection against inflammation in the body. And then there’s the high water content of celery.
Plus generous amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber. All of those support a healthy digestive tract and keep you regular. One cup of celery sticks has 5 grams of dietary fiber.
Blanching
If you aren’t exactly sure what blanching is, it is a cooking process in which a portion of food. Which is usually a vegetable or fruit, is scalded in boiling water, removed after a brief time. Finally, you plunge into iced water or place it under cold running water to halt the cooking process. Blanching foods helps reduce quality loss over time.
Celery can be frozen without first being blanched but this extra, easy step helps preserve the veggie’s color, flavor, and texture. Blanching also gives celery more staying power, so it can be frozen for up to a year.
You can freeze celery without blanching but it can only be frozen for up to two months.
Feel free to try this method on other veggie-based recipes such as the candied carrots.
How to Freeze Celery
First, you would want to keep the pieces from freezing together, spread celery on a baking sheet, and freeze for a few hours, or until hard.
Then once the celery is hard you are able to transfer it to an airtight freezer bag, squeeze out the air, seal, label, and freeze. This two-step freezing process makes it easy to pull out exactly the amount of celery you need, rather than defrosting a whole bag.
this way you don’t risk losing the flavor when having to refreeze the celery you didn’t use for your meal.
Use Previously Frozen Celery for Certain Meals
There’s no need to thaw celery before using. You can simply add the celery to whatever you’re cooking straight from the freezer. Celery contains a lot of water, which is why it’s so crisp and hydrating. Unfortunately, celery loses some of that crispness when frozen. Previously frozen celery is best used in soups, stews, stuffing, and stock, where it contributes flavor more than texture.
Raw celery can be consumed as an appetizer, stuffed with cheese, a seafood mixture, poultry, or eggs. Try adding chopped celery the next time you make tuna, chicken, or egg salad sandwiches.
You can also serve it to your small furry friends! Check out this link on how to serve to your doggos.
There are a few ways you can freeze or cook with your celery without losing the color or taste. Try it out for yourselves and leave your reviews down below.