Can you freeze cabbage?
This green vegetable is useful in cooking and works well when frozen. Families that produce cabbage rely on it for year-round nourishment that is simple to include in meal plans. Learn all you need to know about frozen cabbage.
Cabbage serves as one of the vegetable farm’s unsung heroes. It’s high in fiber and low in calories, so it’s packed with good-for-you nourishment. It also contains disease-fighting chemicals, as well as high quantities of Vitamins C and K and a variety of minerals. By freezing cabbage, you may enjoy this nutrient-dense vegetable outside of the growing season.
Cabbage is an excellent item to keep in the crisper section of your refrigerator. It’s vitamin-rich, resilient, and delicious in everything from salads to heartier braises and stews. Cabbage is truly a whole vegetable, with an amazing crisp texture when fresh that softens to a velvet rich when cooked.
However, it is quite simple to wind up with more cabbage than you can utilize in a week. While cabbage has a long shelf life, it is not limitless.
Guide to Blanching cabbage
It is pretty simple to cut and use cabbage. Cabbage, with its short center stalk, is a mostly usable vegetable that produces minimal to no waste. It’s simple to cut cabbage into the right shape, whether you’re using entire leaves for pickled cabbage rolls, chopped or shredded cabbage for coleslaw, or large portions for boiled corned beef or cabbage soup.
When it comes to freezing cabbage, the primary decision is whether or not to blanch it. The most important consideration here is what you intend to do with the cabbage once it has been removed from the freezer.
If you want to use the cabbage immediately and want it to be as close to raw as possible, skipping the blanching step is your best chance.
Blanching, on the other hand, will be your approach if you want the maximum time freeze life out of the cabbage and don’t mind a somewhat cooked texture once you ultimately defrost the cabbage to be used in a dish.
Raw frozen cabbage will last for 8 weeks, so if you intend on creating a meal with cabbage soon, keep it raw.
According to how much you’re using at once, you should usually chop the cabbage heads in half and maybe even quarters when I use it at home. My crisper drawer frequently has wasted cabbage quarters. They are typically used during salads or stir-fries, although occasionally they aren’t.
Follow These Procedures To Freeze Your Cabbage Wedges:
- Blanch the cabbage wedges by immersing them in boiling water for 1.5 to 2 minutes, then immediately transferring them to icy water to halt the cooking.
- With any extra liquid, drain it from the cabbage pieces.
- On a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, arrange the cabbage wedges before freezing them.
- Before transferring the frozen cabbage 1/4th into an airtight container such as a freezer bag for extended storage, give the cabbage four hours to freeze.
The best shelf life is achieved by blanching the cabbage before freezing. Although freezing raw cabbage results in a somewhat better texture overall, the additional advantage of lifespan would be more than enough reason to choose this approach.
Steps:
- For the appropriate thickness, chop the cabbage.
- Drain any extra water after rinsing the cabbage.
- Place the cabbage on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- For two hours or when the shreds of cabbage are solidly frozen, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator.
- Transfer the shreds of cabbage to a freezer bag or other airtight container.
- Avoid over-packing bags for the most effective freeze, and maintain cabbage segments in a thin layer.
You can effectively freeze the cabbage by laying it flat and letting it freeze entirely to give it the nicest quality possible. Then, we may prevent freezer burn or oxidation, extending the shelf life and flavor of the cabbage by moving it to a freezer bag or airtight storage container.
When prepared properly, this cabbage may be used in salads and kale slaws that call for raw vegetables.
Freezing A Whole Cabbage
If you want to freeze a full cabbage, follow these instructions, regardless of whether you have a sizable garden harvest or merely found a fantastic deal just at a local farmer’s market:
- In a gallon of water with 1 tablespoon of salt and soak the cabbage. Any insects or other pests in the inner cabbage leaves will no longer be present. Okay, you can also soak it in plain water for a few hours.
- Place the completely drained cabbage on a plate or tray that has been lined with baking paper.
- Put the tray in the freezer, then take it out and transfer the frozen cabbage to a sealed container after eight hours.
If you blanch the cabbage, which involves putting it in boiling water for 3 minutes before moving it to chill water to halt the cooking, you may increase the shelf life of the frozen cabbage by 6–8 weeks.
This is a fantastic method to store extra cabbage from a small farm. If you want to make cabbage rolls, it’s also probably the best method to freeze cabbage, specifically if you blanch it beforehand. From doing this, the preparation step of blanching is not needed to perform, and the cabbage leaves will be now ready for cooking.
Thawing Frozen Cabbage
Any frozen vegetable, particularly frozen cabbage, should be thawed in the freezer. You’ll have fully thawed cabbage in no time if you just follow these simple instructions!
- From your freezer, take the necessary quantity of frozen cabbage, and put it in a bowl or plate.
- Place the bowl in your refrigerator and wrap it with plastic wrap.
- Until the cabbage has fully defrosted, let it remain in the freezer. This could take up to two days, depending on the quantity of your frozen cabbage.
- The thawed cabbage should have all of its extra liquid drained out and used as needed in your recipe.
Run frozen items under cool access to water to defrost them. This is not something you advise doing with cabbage, specifically blanching cabbage since you run the danger of the vegetable disintegrating as it thaws. Although you may defrost the cabbage in the microwaves on a timed setting if necessary, it’s preferable to let the cabbage defrost organically in the freezer.
Using Frozen Cabbage In Cooking
You can cook with cabbage in a variety of ways, sometimes without even needing to defrost it first, relying on how you decided to freeze it.
It is usually advisable to defrost the cabbage before cooking if you intend to make cabbage rolls or boiled cabbage with big frozen chunks of cabbage. Your cabbage meals will benefit from the highest level of integrity and quality if you do this!
Key Takeaways
Use frozen cabbage between eight to fourteen months for the finest quality. Use frozen cabbage as a standalone side dish in dishes like stewed cabbage or skillet cabbage and onions.
Place each head of cabbage on a cookie sheet and quickly freeze. Depending on how big your wedges are, the cabbage should freeze between 12 and 24 hours. After it has frozen, place the cabbage in large zip-lock bags.
Use fresh cabbage as a standalone main dish in dishes like stewed cabbage or skillet cabbage and onions. Or include it in hearty crock pot stews and homemade soups. Before deciding to preserve a significant quantity of a meal, do some internet research and test it out on your family.