Blanching vegetables so you can freeze your garden produce is easy to do. We do it every season with our garden veggies. Just get a good supply of Zip-lock bags in quart and gallon sizes. Any brand will do. Just make sure the bags seal well so your produce doesn't get freezer burn.
What is blanching? It is scalding the veggies in steam or boiling water to slow down the enzymes inside the veggies to preserve them in the freezer. This helps to prevent the vegetables from losing color, flavor, and vitamins and nutrients.
Most fruits can be frozen without blanching so if you have picked a lot of berries, or grapes, feel free to put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them just as they are.
These purple and orange carrots were just blanched by me from our garden. They have just been drained.
Blanching Vegetables - How To Do It
Wash and peel your vegetables (if necessary). Cut out any spoiled or
bruised spots. Then chop if necessary. Cut the ends off of ears of corn.
Look for corn worms and cut the affected area off of the ear if you
find some.
Boil the water.
Place the produce in the boiling water or in
the steamer and begin counting the time immediately. This is called
blanching.
Blanch for the specified amount of time. Some vegetables are
blanched for just 60 seconds so it is important to watch your times
closely.
Then immediately drain and plunge into ice water. Once cooled,
put the vegetables in serving sizes in Zip-lock bags, seal and freeze.
These will keep for six months in your freezer.
Blanching Vegetables Time Chart
Artichoke-Globe Type -- 7 minutes
Artichoke-Jerusalem -- 3 minutes for small and 5 minutes for large artichokes
Asparagus - 1 and a half minutes for small, 2 minutes for medium, and 3 minutes for large spears.
Beans-Lima -- 1 minute for small pieces.
Beans-Snap -- 3 minutes
Beans-Soy -- 5 minutes for pods. Then pop beans out of pod to freeze.
Beets-Whole -- Scald for 1 to 2 minutes, then cool and remove skins. Put in freezer whole or sliced.
Broccoli -- 3 minutes but cut off woody parts of stem first and discard.
Brussels Sprouts -- 3 to 4 minutes depending on size.
Cabbage-Wedges -- 3 minutes, Shredded --1 minute
Carrots -- 3 minutes
Cauliflower -- 3 minutes
Corn on the cob -- 6 minutes, Whole Kernel -- 5 minutes
Eggplant -- 4 minutes
Greens -- 2 minutes. This includes spinach and other leafy greens.
Herbs -- Do not scald. Place in freezer bags and use in recipes but they won't be suitable for garnish.
Kohlrabi -- 2 minutes
Mushrooms -- Add 3 teaspoons lemon juice to each quart of water to prevent them from turning dark and scald for 3 minutes.
Okra -- 3 minutes
Onions -- 3 minutes
Parsnips -- 3 minutes
Peanuts-In the shell -- 10 minutes, Shelled -- don't scald, just freeze in bags.
Peas-Blackeyed -- 1 minute
Peas-Green -- 2 minutes
Peas-Snow or Sugar Snap -- 2 minutes
Peppers-Sweet -- Don't scald, just freeze in bags.
Peppers-Hot -- Don't scald, just freeze in bags.
Potatoes -- 3 to 5 minutes, depending on size.
Potatoes, Sweet -- Do not scald. Bake at 350° until slightly soft. Freeze in bags.
Pumpkin -- Do not scald. Cut in half or quarters, depending on size. Bake at 400° until soft and scrape out of shell. Put in blender with a small amount of water and blend until smooth. Place in freezer bags and freeze.
Squash-Summer -- Sliced, 3 minutes
Squash-Winter -- Do not scald. Cut in half and place upside down on pan. Bake at 350° until tender. Use fork to remove from peel. Place pieces of squash in ice water to cool down. Freeze in bags.
Tomatoes -- Using firm, ripe tomatoes, core and cut. Then cook on top of stove until soft. Blend into puree or leave chunky and put in freezer bags.
Turnips -- 3 minutes
Zucchini -- 3 minutes
Your blanched vegetables are now perfect for use in soups, stews, casseroles, and sauces.
Always use a permanent marker to write the date you blanch them as well as the type of vegetable in the bag. Most freezer bags now have a white section on them for the date and variety.
Matt with one of our Barred Rock chickens. The chickens adore him. ♪♫♪♪♫♫
♪♫♪♪ ♫ ♪ ♫♪♫♫
♪♫♪♪♫♫
Peppers and peas
And lots of yummy greens
You can't go wrong
With Squash This Long
At David's Garden Seeds
♪ ♫ ♪ ♫
Please like and subscribe on YouTube and come visit us at our Farm Store! The music on our TV ad was written, played, and sung by our son, Matthew Schulze. You can meet him when you come to the farm. He just might give you a tour. Ask him to grab a guitar and sing our jingle that he wrote.
David of David's Garden Seeds® zipping along on his little tractor across the farm. He is having a blast!
All Non-GMO, we've got the seeds you want!
We are David's Garden Seeds®. If you need great seeds, we've got over 1500 varieties to choose from.
Subscribe To Mrs. David's Garden Seeds® Newsletter For FREE!
Hi! I am Juanita aka Mrs. DGS. This photo was taken in our commercial kitchen during a potluck.
Mrs Davids Garden Seeds in the greenhouse with Lucy the lap dog.
Find out what is going on down on the farm by reading our blog and by subscribing to our free newsletter for all of the information going down at David's Garden Seeds® and on the farm. I love to share helpful information with you. Please let your friends know and y'all come on down for a visit when you get the chance. We would love to meet you!
Hi! My name is Juanita aka Mrs. David's Garden Seeds®.
Seed Sale!
12% off sale when you spend $25 or more online at David's Garden Seeds® or at the Farm Store.
Items At The Farm Store
Seeds
Seedlings-Tomato & Pepper
Farm Fresh Eggs
Pecan Flavored Coffee -Whole Bean Only
Germination Kits
Germination Mix
Seed Trays
Small Seed Starter Pots
Spring Seed Sets
Fall Seed Sets
David's Garden Seeds® Farm Store. You will love it!
Our Farm Store is located at 5029 FM 2504 in Poteet, TX. Store Hours:
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
Sat 10am-2pm
Sun Closed
David's Garden Seeds® has
seeds for the backyard gardener, plants, and chicken eggs.We also have pecan flavored coffees! Make your kitchen smell great each morning as you grind our whole bean pecan coffees!
Yes, we do have 2 YouTube channels. Please subscribe and like. Thank you.
Advertisement For David's Garden Seeds®, The Best Non-GMO Seeds In The State of Texas!
This is our new registered logo. We are trademarked.
David and Juanita in the new store after the building was delivered. We still had to finish the inside before we could open. That was a job but it is gorgeous now.
This is our beautiful Farm Store. Come in and shop for seeds, canned foods, pecan treats and more. We are adding new things all the time.
Hi Everyone! Thank you for visiting my website! I am Mrs Davids
Garden Seeds® aka Mrs. David's Garden Seeds and I think you should know that there is a wonderful seed
company in the great state of Texas called David's Garden Seeds®. We grow some of our seed, we count, hand pack, print our own envelopes, and ship seeds out to you right here from our farm. This used to be an old peanut farm. When the owner died about 15 years ago, his sons split the farm up and sold it in pieces. We are fortunate to have gotten a piece.
Our business started
in our home in San Antonio in September of 2009. Honestly, I told David, "Don't bother, it won't work!". I am so glad that David did not listen to me because it did work! By 2015, we had 8
employees working in my home every day and David found a storefront in
San Antonio and moved the business there. In 2016, I quit my day job and went on the payroll. We grew more and David moved to a
bigger storefront in 2017. In 2019, we found a beautiful farm out in
Poteet. David and I moved our home out there. We love farm life.
In
2020, we moved our company out to the farm. We have a beautiful Farm Store filled with seeds, a gazebo with a pond full of koi and gold fish for
you to visit and a working farm for you to tour. Come by and visit us at
5029 FM 2504 in Poteet, Texas, Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. Or you can order seeds online from our
user-friendly website, www.davidsgardenseeds.com.
Welcome to David's Garden Seeds® Farm located at 5029 FM 2504 just outside of Poteet, Texas. We are so glad you have come to visit!
Come visit our koi fish pond and relax in our gazebo while you enjoy a soda and listen to the water cascade down our waterfall.
Our beautiful new farm store has almost 2,000 varieties of seeds and more. Mrs Davids Garden Seeds® looks forward to meeting you when you visit.
Mrs. David's Garden Seeds® Copyright by Juanita Lynn Schulze & David Schulze of David's Garden Seeds® 2019-2023
David's Garden Seeds® is Registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.