What To Do With an Abundance of Fresh Vegetables?

So you've been to the farmer's market, and you could not resist buying some of everything because it's so cheap! And so good! And so fresh! And now you're looking at a mountain of fresh produce, knowing full well it will be impossible to eat all of it before it goes bad.

Before you resign yourself to having paid good money for compost, why not consider freezing vegetables for later use? I get it if you don't want to can... I am not a canner, never have been and most likely never will be. But freezing? I can freeze stuff!

When fresh produce is in season, don't be worried about buying more than you can use before it goes bad. As a rule, all you need to do is blanch them in boiling water (1 pound of vegetables to 1 gallon of water), then remove and immediately plunge into ice-cold water to stop the cooking. Then drain and pat dry.

You can just freeze them right away in zip-top bags or plastic containers, or you can spread them out on baking sheets to freeze before packaging (I always mean to spread them out, but I just don't have that much room in the freezer). Cut into florets, 1-inch pieces, or separate leaves before blanching for best results. Below are the blanching times for some of the most common vegetables:

Asparagus: thin stalks 2-4 minutes, depending on thickness.

Green beans: 3 minutes.

Broccoli: 3 minutes.

Brussels sprouts: 3-5 minutes, depending on size.

Cabbage: 1 1/2 minutes.

Carrots: 2 minutes (baby carrots 5 minutes).

Cauliflower: 3 minutes.

Celery: 3 minutes (2 minutes if diced).

Corn on the cob: small ears (1 1/4 inches in diameter or less) for 7 minutes, medium ears (1 1/2 inch diameter) for 9, and large ears (more than 1 1/2 inches in diameter) for 11 minutes.

Peas: 1 1/2 minutes.

Summer Squash: 3 minutes.

Things like green pepper and onions can be chopped and frozen raw.

Things like winter squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes must be completely cooked before freezing.

Mushrooms can be sauteed and frozen.

Be aware that not all vegetables retain their crispness when frozen. They will be good for use in something cooked, but not so much for a salad.

See? It's not as hard as you think! And now you have GOOD produce frozen as opposed to having to buy frozen vegetables later on in the winter. Farm-fresh vegetables simply taste better, even after being blanched and frozen. Go ahead and splurge as long as vegetables are available!