Description
Learning how to freeze cauliflower is a great way to preserve the excess you have at home, whether that be from the garden or a good sale at the grocery store. Freezing it properly helps preserve its quality and means you’ll have cauliflower ready in the freezer whenever you need it to add to soups, stews, bakes or simply as a side at dinnertime.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 large saucepan of boiling water
- Ice cubes and a large bowl of cold water (for the ice bath)
Instructions
- Rinse cauliflower thoroughly under fresh running water.
- On a chopping board, cut the cauliflower into florets.
- Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, place a good, heaping handful of cauliflower in the water, and blanch for 3 minutes.
- Plunge into an ice bath for 3 minutes to stop the cooking process.
- Remove the cauliflower by scooping out with a slotted spoon and draining in a colander, or if there’s a lot, drain on a clean tea towel.
- Line baking dishes with baking paper and place drained cauliflower on them.
- Flash freeze by placing the trays in the freezer for at least 30 minutes to several hours.
- Once they are frozen, place them in either a zip-lock bag or an airtight container.
Notes
- Don’t skip the flash-freezing part, where the cauliflower is placed on a baking tray and popped into the freezer first. Unless you roughly know how much cauliflower you will need for each meal, as they’ll stick together like glue!!!
- If homegrown, soaking the cauliflower first in a saltwater solution can remove some unwanted pests and dirt. Make a simple saltwater solution by dissolving 4 teaspoons of salt in 4 litres of warm water in a large bowl. Then place the heads of cauliflower upside down and leave for 30 minutes. Then rinse thoroughly and drain on a clean tea towel.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Category: Food Preservation
- Method: Blanching and Freezing
- Cuisine: Modern Australian