Savoring the Flavors of Summer - Big Y® World Class Market®

Wish you could preserve summertime’s fresh flavors? You can — by freezing the fresh fruits and vegetables the season brings, all available at your local Big Y World Class Market. Here are some tips and instructions on keeping summer alive well into winter by freezing summer’s bountiful treasures.

Freezing Vegetables
Near summer’s end, it can seem nearly impossible to use up the bounty of fresh vegetables the season produces. Don’t waste them; freeze them for use all year. Only a few vegetables don’t freeze well because of their delicate structures or high water content: beets, radishes, lettuce and green onions. Follow these steps to freeze vegetables:

1. Clean the vegetables, then chop them or leave them whole if you choose.
2. Immerse vegetables in boiling water to help them retain their color and vitamins and to prevent them from continuing to ripen. This process is called blanching. Drop the vegetables into boiling water, and start the blanching time when the water returns to a boil. The more delicate the vegetable, the shorter the blanching time. See our chart below of times for specific vegetables.
3. Use a strainer or slotted spoon to retrieve the vegetables from the boiling water, and quickly place them into a bowl of ice water. This prevents them from continuing to cook. When they’re cool, remove them from the water and dry them off with a paper towel or in a salad spinner.
4. Place vegetables in plastic bags, label the bags with a marker, and place them in your freezer.

Blanching Time for Vegetables
Asparagus stalks: 2 to 4 minutes
Green or wax beans and broccoli: 3 minutes
Carrots: 5 minutes for whole or 2 minutes for diced or sliced
Corn on the cob: 7 to 11 minutes, according to size
Okra: 3 to 4 minutes
Green beans: 1.5 minutes for shelled
Squash: 2.5 to 3 minutes for cubed
Zucchini and summer squash: 3 minutes for cubed or sliced

Freezing Berries
Fresh berries freeze well. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Wash berries. If you’re freezing strawberries, remove the stems and leaves. If you’re freezing blueberries, don’t wash them at this time, since washing can make the skins tough. Dry berries off with a paper towel to remove excess water.
2. Place berries on a cookie sheet in a single layer. This prevents the berries from sticking together as they freeze, so you can easily remove the amount you need.
3. Cover berries with wax paper and freeze.
4. Once berries are frozen, place them in plastic storage bags, taking care to remove air from the bags. This will help prevent freezer burn. Label the bags with a marker, and place them in your freezer.
5. Berries last up to a year in your freezer. You can thaw them in the refrigerator before use, if necessary. Remember to wash blueberries before consuming them.

Making Chutney

Making and freezing chutney is another great way to preserve summer’s flavors. There are hundreds of possible combinations of ingredients for chutney. Once you get the basic concept down, you can experiment with any number of fruits. The key is to make sure you use firm-fleshed, under-ripe fruit, such as green mangoes, bananas, peaches, apples, nectarines and apricots. Here is one of our favorite recipes to get you started.

Strawberry-Mango Chutney