How to freeze eggplant for the winter in the freezer: 5 simple recipes

Can eggplants be frozen?

A prerequisite for freezing eggplant is preliminary soaking
Freezing as a way of storing eggplant has several advantages:

semi-finished product is always ready for use;
you can cook tasty and healthy dishes from frozen blue ones in winter;
frozen blues can be used in place of sauerkraut.

To freeze eggplants for the winter in the freezer, you need to consider a number of facts:

the optimum temperature for freezing is -12 ° C and below;
the slower the freezing process, the more nutrients will be retained in the product.

Selection of fruits for storage

Suitable for freezing are blue mid-ripening or late-ripening varieties, plucked in the fall or at the end of summer. Therefore, it is advisable to purchase vegetables from the second half of August to early October.

The optimum temperature for freezing is -12 ° C and below;

During this period, they are already quite ripe and not very expensive.

On a note! Harvesting is usually done in dry weather. Cut the fruit with a knife, leaving a stalk 4 cm long.

First, the fruits are examined and sorted. Whole specimens are selected that do not have traces of damage, with whole and shiny skin. The fruits should not be stained.

The freshness of the fruit is determined by the tail: It is green in recently picked eggplants, and dry in those that have been lying for a long time.

Eggplants come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They come in purple, white, or light green to match their variety. Some species have stripes.

All these fruits are suitable for storage. The main thing is that the vegetable is young. This is indicated by a glossy rind. A dull color is a sign that the eggplant is overripe.

Note! Usually large blue contains many seeds that give bitterness. Therefore, it is advisable to select small vegetables. They have a delicate and pleasant taste.

A light cut after slicing indicates that the vegetable is ready to be frozen. If the cut has darkened, it means that the blue contains a large percentage of solanine accumulated during the ripening of the fruit.

Also note that the sun's rays adversely affect the taste of the vegetable. It begins to produce the aforementioned solanine, which makes the eggplant bitter and unusable.

How to prepare vegetables correctly?

Selected blue should be left in the air for 3 days to dry. Be sure to cover the blue with cotton or burlap to avoid direct sunlight.

Cut blue in different ways (depending on further use): cubes, straws or large circles.

Cut blue in different ways

Cut off the skin or leave it depends on individual preference. Pour the chopped pieces into a saucepan, then salt.

Stir the vegetable slices to distribute the salt evenly. After a quarter of an hour, the released liquid is poured off. Please note that young fruits have less solanine, so they do not need to be kept in a salty solution.

Important! Blot blue with a clean cotton towel before freezing. If this is not done, the pieces will stick together in the freezer.

Put the dried slices on a kitchen board covered with parchment (or foil). There should be a small distance between the pieces.

Then wrap the board with the chopped vegetable in plastic and place in the freezer for 4 hours. After the specified time has passed, transfer the blue ones to the prepared container and return to the chamber.

Vegetables processed by this method will not freeze to each other.

How to freeze eggplants for the winter: step by step instructions

You can freeze the following blue ones:

blanched;
dried in the oven;
fried.

Blanched

Blot blue with a clean cotton towel before freezing.
Short-term processing of a vegetable with steam or boiling water is called blanching. Eggplants processed in this way become soft, while retaining their color.

Procurement stages:

The blue ones are cut in any way you choose.
Salt the slices and leave for a quarter of an hour.
The vegetables are poured into a colander and dipped in boiling water.
After 1 minute, the eggplants are cooled. Be sure to dry the eggplants, so they are transferred to a waffle towel.

When the excess liquid drains, the blue ones should be packed and put in the freezer.

Oven-dry

You can dry the blue vegetable in the oven.

Stages of execution:

Keep at 200 ° C for 60 minutes. Check and mix the workpiece frequently.
Reduce temperature to 100 ° C.
Dry for another 4-5 hours until tender. Finished eggplants should have a hard skin and a soft inside.
Season the cooled product with spices and garlic, then put in an airtight container.

It is recommended to soak dried and frozen blues in water before cooking.

Note! You can dry the blue ones in an electric dryer. In this case, the cooking time will depend on the shape of the slices, as well as on the model of the dryer.

Fried eggplant

The following recipe provides for pre-frying vegetables for subsequent freezing.

Fried eggplant

How to prepare fruits:

first, you need to wash and cut the vegetables, put them in a saucepan, and then sprinkle them with salt;
after about 45 minutes, drain the resulting liquid;
cut the blue ones into thick pieces, since the skin will separate from the pulp during frying;
soak the workpiece in salt water (proportion: 1 tablespoon salt per 1 liter of water).

After 35 minutes, rinse the vegetables in a colander.

Stages of execution:

Place the prepared fruit on a towel. When they dry, pour them into a hot skillet, greased with vegetable oil. Fry the vegetable slices on both sides (5 minutes each).
Transfer the blue ones to a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
Put cooled vegetables in one layer on a foil-covered cutting board.
Send the workpiece to the freezer for 3-4 hours.

What can you cook from frozen blue

Before cooking anything, vegetables must be properly defrosted. The optimal and sparing option is to take them out of the freezer, hold them for several hours (preferably overnight) in the refrigerator. They will gradually defrost themselves, while retaining their juiciness and useful substances.

Other options to save eggplant

To preserve eggplants for the winter, they can be baked, stewed, or boiled.

Baked chopped

Bake uncut eggplants in the oven. Put the cooled product on a plate and send to the freezer. When it freezes, place it in the prepared packaging.

Baked whole

Wash the blue ones and dry them with a waffle towel. Pierce each fruit with a toothpick and place the whole fruit in salt water for 60–90 minutes.

To save eggplants for the winter, you can bake them.

Rinse the vegetable and pat dry with a paper towel. Next, you need to grease the eggplants with vegetable oil and put in a baking dish.

Send the piece to the hot oven (180 degrees Celsius) for about 35 minutes. Peel the whole baked vegetables and squeeze lightly. Pat dry with a towel and leave to cool.

Please note! It is unacceptable to freeze whole blue without pretreatment, otherwise they will turn into bitter rubber.

Stewed

Fry whole fruits lightly in a preheated skillet, turning occasionally. Then cool the vegetables and pat dry with a towel. Pack the blue in bags, removing excess air. Place the workpiece in the freezer.

Boiled

Some housewives boil vegetables before freezing them, and then peel them off. When the eggplants stand a little and the liquid drains from them, they are placed in the freezer.

The inconvenience of this method is that large copies will take up a lot of space in the refrigerator. And it will take a long time to defrost.

Testimonials

I soaked them in strips, and in circles, and cubes today, and when I gave them, and tied the cubes in the oven, those places where the seeds are ... it is simply impossible to eat them, sheer bitterness (((I wasted my time, everything in a bucket! Raw eggplant you can try for bitterness, so that, since I do not waste time.

For many years I have been freezing raw eggplants, cut into cubes, and in the winter I cook a vegetable stew or add to a soup sauce. Eggplants contain little water, they are not zucchini! Although I freeze zucchini, and in winter I carcass with eggplants and bell peppers. I also add frozen dill, basil and parsley. The real taste and aroma of summer! The main thing is not to defrost vegetables before cooking - and everything will be fine. Nothing has ever flowed or crawled.
Eggplants are always delicious. They can be canned, frozen and pickled. It sometimes tastes like mushrooms, but is a vegetable. The only gustatory drawback is bitterness, which is removed with salt and ordinary running water.

For several years I have been freezing vegetables, fruits, berries in a large no frost freezer. Peel the eggplants, cut them into cubes and small portions into a breakfast bag. I remove air from the bag as much as possible and seal it with an iron through a sheet of paper. Then nothing tastes bitter, it tastes great for stews and casseroles. I froze it in circles - I didn't really like it. Perhaps because it was frozen in a bag with a clip, and not hermetically sealed in a sealed bag. But this year I found a use for them: frozen circles - in a pan (do not salt !!!), fry until tender. Top with feta or any very salty soft cheese mixed with mayonnaise. Above is a frozen tomato circle. While the tomato is thawed, the excess salt from the cheese will transfer to the eggplant and tomato and the flavor will balance. Winter alternative to blue with tomato, mayonnaise and garlic, only much tastier!)

Eggplant storage packaging

Eggplant has a unique taste, while it does not have a specific smell.
When freezing, various types of packaging are used:

special containers;
plastic bags;
freezer packaging with a special fastener;
plastic container with a tight lid;
bags with clips;
vacuum bags.

When packing fruits in bags, it is important to adhere to the following recommendations:

put the blue ones in several bags at once to make the packaging more airtight;
air bubbles should be released from the filled bag;
the bags should be tied tightly: this way the vegetable will not absorb foreign odors.

Eggplant has a unique taste, while it does not have a specific smell. However, the fruit has the ability to absorb odors from other foods.

Eggplant has a unique taste

To avoid this, you must store them in bags or containers with a sealed lid. Before freezing, check the freezer: it must not contain other vegetables, herbs, meat or fish.

Features of preparation for freezing

It is best to freeze fully ripe blue ones. Hard fruits should be preferred. You can pre-blanch vegetables, which will not only remove excessive hardness, but also speed up cooking after defrosting.

Preparation stages:

Remove excess bitterness by soaking the chopped fruit in a strong saline solution. With the help of salt, juice is released, which gives the vegetable a bitter taste.
Wipe the eggplants dry before placing them in the freezer.
Place the prepared fruit in a sealed package. This will allow him not to absorb foreign odors.
Sign packages. You can attach a note with the date under the cellophane or sign the package on top.

Having removed the vegetables into the chamber, you need to ensure that the air temperature in the chamber is not lower than -13 C, since freezing too deep can provoke a change in the taste and vitamin composition of the fruits.

How to defrost eggplant

So that the eggplants do not lose their shape and taste when defrosting, it is important to follow simple rules:

Eggplants can be kept in the freezer for a year, as long as they haven't thawed before.
To defrost semi-finished blue products, you should transfer the vegetables to the lower shelf of the refrigerator. After some time, it will be possible to cook dishes from them.
Defrost as many vegetables as needed at one time.

Attention! If the blue ones were frozen raw, then they must be used immediately, without preliminary thawing. Otherwise, blue will lose integrity.

Please note that the blue vegetable cannot be re-frozen, since this procedure will ruin not only its consistency, but also its taste.

Recipes

Vegetable caviar

Ingredients:

- eggplant;
- zucchini,
- onion;
- carrot;
- salt, pepper to taste.

Method of preparation: stew vegetables until tender, beat until smooth with a blender, add salt and pepper.

Roast in pots

Ingredients:

- potatoes;
- meat;
- onion;
- carrot;
- eggplant;
- sour cream;
- cheese;
- salt, pepper to taste.

Cooking method: peel onions and carrots, sauté. Fry the potatoes and meat separately in a pan. Put meat, potatoes, sautéed onions and carrots, eggplants, grated cheese in pots, grease with sour cream and put in the oven for one hour.