FREEZING THE GARDEN

I am thrilled to finally have our gardens popping with lots to eat! Our first harvests include strawberries, spinach, broccoli and lettuce. The first three are perfect for freezing to savor this winter. Each day I tuck a little more away in our big basement freezer.

FREEZING STRAWBERRIES
These are so simple. I just clean them, remove the greens, slice in half (or keep them whole), pop into a freezer bag, then into the freezer for winter. That's it! If you love strawberries and have a small space, I encourage you to grow a few plants. They do like to spread though, so make sure you contain them well.

FREEZING SPINACH
Pick leaves, clean them, and remove the stems. You can blanch spinach or simply place leaves and a little bit of water into a blender, then freeze in ice cube trays. I like to pop one spinach ice cube into a smoothie. You really don't taste it, but it adds lots of vitamins.

FREEZING BROCCOLI
Pick broccoli heads, clean and chop as desired. Soak them in a bowl of salted water for 30 minutes to remove any insects.  Blanch by placing in boiling water for three minutes, then directly place them in cold water.  Now you can pack them into freezer bags and place them into the freezer.

You can learn more about freezing and blanching foods at the National Center for Food Preservation. Enjoy!