Sorrel. At just one mention, each person has a pleasant sour taste in the mouth. In spring and summer, he is a frequent guest on the Russian table. How to store sorrel? After all, in winter, sometimes you also want green cabbage soup. You can't just leave juicy leaves in the refrigerator, they will quickly deteriorate.
Popular wisdom has long come up with ways to store sorrel. Of course, with their own secrets.
Sorrel storage methods
To all year round there were vitamins on the menu, there are several options for storing sorrel:
- drying
- salting
- conservation
- freezing
These methods have been tested by several generations, are quite reliable and preserve most of the vitamins.
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Preliminary preparation
Before storing sorrel, you need to prepare it. Freshly cut leaves are pre-shaken from dry debris. Then they carefully sort through, removing the spoiled and damaged ones, cut off the hard petioles. After all, the greens are washed in several waters, the liquid is slightly shaken off.
Advice. Medium-sized leaves are suitable for blanks. Small ones have not yet collected the required amount of acid, large ones are already too coarse.
How to dry sorrel properly
Like any greenery. Go through, rinse, spread out in a thin layer. Turn over from time to time. In warm sunny weather, the leaves completely dry out in 5 days.
Then they are carefully placed in glass jars, tightly closed with lids. For convenience further use you can slightly crumble the drying. Burdocks floating in soup are not a very pleasant sight.
Salting sorrel
Prepare the leaves as described above. Next, you need a knife, cutting board, common table salt.
Take 100 g per 1 kg of raw materials. The sorrel is cut across into strips about 3 cm wide, in a large bowl, quickly mix with salt. Then, without delay, they are tamped into jars or food containers so that the juice that has begun to stand out remains in the workpiece.
The jars are closed, but not sealed, they are placed in the refrigerator. This storage method is not suitable for a cellar.
Advice. Mixed with sorrel, you can pickle your favorite greens: dill, green onions, cilantro. Except parsley. Nutritionists do not recommend salting it raw.
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Freezing
Sorrel, carefully prepared in advance, is laid out in plastic bags or special food containers, closed, put into a simple freezer.
Leaves do not need to be cut. Frozen, they crumble easily with your hands. You can store such sorrel for 4-5 months.
Advice. To make the garden greens take up less space in the freezer, you can use special vacuum bags with a zip fastener. Then the frozen layer will be very thin.
Canned sorrel
A great storage option for those with a small refrigerator. Prepared leaves are cut without petioles, placed as much as will fit in glass jars. Set them in a saucepan of water, turn on the fire. Gradually, the greens settle, which means it's time to add a new portion. This is done to the very top. Then the cans are sealed with metal lids, cooled and put into the closet or cellar.
This blank is notable for the fact that it does not require additional costs - vinegar, sugar, spices. Sorrel keeps well in own juice even with room temperature.
Opening a jar in winter, you can prepare green cabbage soup, filling for pies. Good to add canned sorrel in salads and sauces.
Advice. In the process of harvesting, the greens change color to olive. However, flavoring and useful qualities do not change from this.
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Common mistakes
Many housewives wash sorrel immediately. How? Unload all the greens into a large vessel, pour cold water... The leaves will splash a little and are thrown in a colander. In this case, all insects remain between the leaves. Well, what prevents to sort out the sorrel in advance? You can replenish the body's protein supply more traditional ways rather than the chitinous membrane.
Yet. How women roll winter preparations? They twirled it more reliably and hop - with the usual movement they turn the jar onto the lid. You can't do that with sorrel. It contains so much acid that it corrodes food varnish on inside cover. By opening such a jar in winter, you can get beautiful mixture with rusty stains. Iron is useful, but not in the same way!
Many articles recommend drying sorrel by exposing it to direct sunlight. Allegedly, it's faster. Well, haven't mothers drummed into the current hostesses since childhood that greens are dried only in the shade? And isn't the sorrel green? I would like to speed up the process - the oven to the rescue.
Sorrel must not be cut before drying. Most of the juice will flow out, instead of crispy leaves, you will get dried rags. And almost all vitamins are oxidized.
Some housewives believe that 100 g of salt is not enough. This is not true. Oxalic acid is an excellent preservative. Why add extra "white poison"?
It happens that during cooking, the whole sorrel is defrosted at once, the required amount is taken, then re-frozen. It is strongly discouraged to do so! Break off the required amount of freezing, immediately throw it into the pan, quickly put the rest back - these are the right actions.
In order not to bother with a whole package of freezing, lay out the greens in portioned bags at a time.
Naturally, all containers for blanks and lids must be pre-sterilized. Sorrel is sour, but not immortal; it spoils in dirty cans.
With the method cold salting after long-term storage on top of the sorrel mass sometimes appears white bloom... Someone opens a jar, wrinkles his nose, the blank flies into the trash ... what nonsense? Is regular salt no longer edible? This is just a salt deposit. And it's quite edible.
"Before harvesting, pour boiling water over the sorrel and dry it." The gross mistake! The leaves, even large ones, are so tender that any heat treatment will turn them into porridge. How to store the resulting grease later? No preprocessing boiling water!
For the same reason, do not wipe sorrel. And then there are such would-be advisers "carefully wipe the leaves on both sides with a rag or napkin." And then what to do with the sluggish rags? Just throw it in a colander or shake off the water from a bunch of greens. Movement like shaking a thermometer.
Cutting the leaves as small as possible is another delusional tip. Why crush it into porridge? To lose all the leaked juice? Or nothing to chew? So after any storage method, the sorrel becomes soft. No need to do extra work.
If there is no confidence in preservation in your own juice, you can calm your darling. In every liter jar before spinning, put a teaspoon of salt on top without stirring. Distribute evenly, roll up. Now there is definitely nowhere more reliable.
Of all possible options how to preserve sorrel for the winter, a distinction is made between preservation (in salt, hot or cold water), drying and freezing. In all cases, the greens should be pre-washed, sorted out and chopped. The last procedure is considered the most troublesome, so many housewives, before storing sorrel for the winter, do not grind it, leaving the leaves intact. Undoubtedly, this will save a lot of time in the summer, but then certain inconveniences will appear when using the blank. So culinary experts still recommend chopping it up first.
Freezing sorrel for the winter
Those who have a good roomy refrigerator need not even think about using another recipe. After all, this one, on the one hand, is simple to the point of banality, and on the other, it allows you to keep the maximum nutrients in all vegetables, which include sorrel. The recipes for the winter are all good, but this one is still the best.
So, sorrel must be sorted out, washed, dried, cut and packed in bags or containers (preferably in portions). Then they are sent to the freezer. In winter, when this vegetable is needed, you just need to defrost it at room temperature. In the case when the workpiece is made without grinding, the sorrel must be disassembled into portioned bundles, each of which must be packed separately. This is necessary in order to defrost it strictly in the required amount, since repeating the procedure many times is strongly discouraged.
Drying
Thinking about how to preserve sorrel for the winter, and excluding freezing for certain reasons, you should pay attention to this recipe. The leaves must first be washed, removed all weeds and finely chopped. Then they are laid out in one layer on a clean sheet of paper and left in a dry, warm place, excluding direct sunlight. After a few days, during which the mass is periodically turned over, the sorrel will completely dry out and it will remain to collect it in sealed container for storage. This can be a container or jar with a tight-fitting lid. Before using dried herbs, it must be left in warm water for a while.
Conservation
Knowing how to preserve sorrel for the winter in the previous two ways, many housewives still prefer to preserve it. Perhaps this is due to the convenience of further use, or it just became a habit to put everything in jars.
Marinade as such is not used for sorrel, because, due to the high concentration of acid in the leaves, it does not deteriorate, even if it is poured over with cold water. There are several options for conservation. First, it is salting. Prepared sorrel (washed, dried and chopped) is packed tightly in glass jars, generously sprinkled with salt. Close with a nylon or metal lid; in this case, do not use water. The process is very simple, but it has several disadvantages. First, the sorrel turns out to be too salty, which makes it impossible to use it for desserts and some other dishes. Secondly, it can be stored in this form only in the refrigerator, which is not always convenient.
The other two preservation options produce a moderately salty product. Prepared sorrel must be put in sterile jars, lightly salt (a teaspoon without a slide per liter container) and pour boiling water over it. Then they need to be corked and stored in dark place with the rest of the canned food.
Cold work is also possible. In this case, both cans and lids are sterilized. The sorrel is laid, as in the previous recipe, salted and poured with chilled boiled water, and then twisted and sent to the pantry or cellar for storage.
Regardless of the selected variant of the workpiece, a natural useful product without the use of additional preservatives and other chemicals.
Among edible plants - "suppliers" of nutrients, one of the main places is occupied by sorrel. Its thin leaves with sourness, familiar to us from childhood, contain potassium, magnesium, calcium, vitamins A and C and folic acid preventing the development of cancerous processes. Sorrel can be consumed in fresh, it is also used in the preparation of traditional green cabbage soup... To delight your family with delicious and healthy dishes all year round, housewives should take note of how to store sorrel at home.
Choosing the "right" plants
Choose not very large young leaves for storage: they have less oxalic acid, which in excess can lead to urolithiasis. For the same reason, if sorrel grows on your summer cottage, try to collect it before the beginning of July.
Universal storage method - freezing
Modern housewives prefer to store fresh berries, vegetables and herbs in the refrigerator, or rather, in its freezer... Using this method, you can save a maximum of vitamins and minerals, as well as taste qualities product for the whole winter and not only. The technology for freezing sorrel at home takes place in several stages:
- First, sort through the plants, filtering out the flower arrows and blades of grass.
- Rinse thoroughly with herbs. It is better to do this in a large basin filled with water: this will help maintain the integrity of the leaves, and the dirt will quickly settle to the bottom.
- If you still want to freeze large leaves, for convenience, they can be cut across into strips about 3 cm wide.
- Submerge the sorrel in boiling water for 1 minute. The color will change from green to olive, but do not be alarmed: such processing will not affect the quality of the products.
- Remove the leaves from the water quickly - you can use a slotted spoon to do this. Let the liquid drain.
- Let the greens cool and dry completely - often it takes several hours.
- After the prepared greens can be laid out in plastic bags and stored in the refrigerator.
Sorrel frozen in this way will delight you with its fresh summer aroma and taste throughout the winter.
It should be noted that sorrel does not need to be thawed before adding it to the dish. The contents of the sachet can be put into the pot directly from the freezer. In this regard, sorrel can be frozen in portions with other types of herbs to save time during cooking. By the time the seasoning is added, the dish should be almost ready.
Other storage methods
In addition to the freezing popular today, there are several other methods that our grandmothers used to preserve the benefits and taste of sorrel for the whole winter.
Conservation
Home-canned sorrel retains its taste, but some of the vitamins are still lost. For the preparation, you will need 750 g of sorrel, 250 ml of water, several small glass jars, which should be sterilized in advance. Go through the leaves, rinse them as described above, cut the petioles. Blanch the herbs in boiling water for a few minutes. Then immediately spread the sorrel into the jars. Pour the blanched water over the leaves. Place the rolled up jars with their neck down and leave to cool. You can store the workpiece in the refrigerator, and if possible, in the cellar or basement.
Some craftsmen harvest sorrel for the winter in their own juice. Jars filled to the brim with leaves are placed in a large wide container with water - a saucepan or basin. Then they turn on the fire and wait until the greens begin to settle. Then add new leaves until the containers are completely full. Then the cans are removed, covered with plastic lids and stored in a cool place. Such a preparation can be stored all winter and not be afraid that the product will deteriorate due to the lack of salt and sugar: the acid contained in sorrel juice is an excellent natural preservative.
Cold salting
This is the way to hastily... Prepared greens must be finely chopped and placed tightly in clean glass jars in layers, sprinkling each with salt. Close the containers tightly - and you're done! It is necessary to store such a workpiece in the refrigerator.
Drying
For the winter, sorrel is harvested as a seasoning, and therefore many people prefer to keep it dry. After sorting, washing and drying the leaves, grind them and put them on paper towels. Then cover the greens with the same towels. For high-quality drying, sorrel should be placed in direct sunlight: at home it is suitable for this purpose wide window sill... Towels will absorb excess moisture, and the sun will make the leaves completely dry and brittle. You can store such a seasoning at home for a very long time, if you wish, it can be instantly turned into powder by simply rubbing it between your fingers. Dried sorrel imparts a pleasant sourness that is appropriate in many dishes.
All the tips offered in the article are time-tested. Take them to your culinary piggy bank - and on your table there will always be not only tasty, but also healthy food at any time of the year!
04/29/2018 0 985 views
Heat and light are the main enemies of fresh plants. It takes two days for them to lose the original appearance and beneficial features... In two hours, vitamin C disappears from greens if stored improperly. Therefore, it is important to keep them in the refrigerator. You need to know certain subtleties of proper storage.
How do I prepare a product for storage?
Proper preparation is essential to maintain the appearance and freshness of your greenery. Plants do not need to be rinsed under water before being refrigerated. Contact with liquid can negatively affect them. It is better to remove dirt with a napkin or dry soft cloth. It is necessary to wash the grass during the cooking process.
In special cases, you can send greens under water, but the following recommendations must be followed:
- Leaves should not be kept under a powerful stream of water. Better to pour it into a deep container and send the plants there.
- After processing, you must first remove the greens from the pan, then pour out the liquid. This will save it from re-contamination.
- Long-term storage is possible after complete drying and removal of water. First you need to shake off the drops, then blot with a dry cloth and place on paper towels or napkins. After a quarter of an hour, all the moisture will be gone.
It is important to remove the yellow, rotten and dry branches from the inflorescences, and then carefully fold the remaining leaves.
How to store herbs in the refrigerator?
The required temperature regime for long-term storage is provided on the lower shelf. In models modern production you can find a "zero" chamber that will keep the dill and parsley fresh.
The airless environment in vacuum packaging also has a beneficial effect on plants. It is important to choose the right suitable option... There are whole lines of dishes that are produced for storing greens. Often, manufacturers use special technologies, allowing her to "not suffocate" in the absence of air for a long time.
The latest development is the Prepara flask. It has a special container for water. Liquid is regularly fed through a special compartment, which contributes to the long-term storage of greens. Banks are different sizes therefore suitable for long stems. Before sending them to the flask, they need thorough water treatment and drying.
Green onions
This plant is very delicate, so it is worth observing special conditions storage. You can not leave it at room temperature, even at +12, moisture evaporates quickly, the taste is lost.
- A damp cloth is ideal for storing onion feathers in the refrigerator. It must be ensured that it does not creep out from moisture. It is better to choose thick paper towels or edible paper, newspapers and magazines will not work for this purpose. Printing ink can harm greenery and spoil its quality.
- Prepare the leaves, wrap them in paper, spray them. Put the bundle in plastic, then in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator. The method is also suitable for the rest of the greens (parsley, sorrel, dill, celery, salad). Thus, it can be stored for 7-10 days. For an even greater extension of the period, it should be periodically sprayed.
- For long-term storage, you need to use an onion dug out of the ground with a root. At home, it is worth cleaning it of excess dirt, immersing it in water and carefully wrapping it in paper or cloth. Then put it in polyethylene, make holes, send it to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Parsley
Parsley is even more tender than onions. Therefore, it fades 30 minutes after it was plucked from the garden. It is important to make sure that the plant does not wither and always replenishes its moisture reserves. The following methods are suitable for this:
- Gently collect the parsley in a bunch, dip the stems into the water. This allows you to save its properties for 2 days. However, it should only be in the vegetable section. There is a suitable temperature to avoid yellowing. For longer storage, it is worth freezing it.
- You can treat the greens with water, dry them with napkins, cut them, put them on a tray, and then in the freezer. When it is completely frozen, send it back to the freezer in sealed bags.
- Chop greens, put in ice cube trays. Pour in clean water or melted and slightly chilled butter. The resulting cubes can be used to add to sauces, soups.
Mint
Peppermint gives food freshness and is used for hot and cold meals. It is perfect for drinks and sweets, so it is very important to stock up on it for future use. It is believed that it is allowed to dry. But this will serve as a loss of the unique menthol flavor. Consider storage methods:
- Remove excess from greens, put in a dampened towel. This will preserve freshness for a week. Do not pre-rinse it, as the strong pressure of water will negatively affect the leaves. In this case, it will last no longer than two days.
- You can freeze it in cubes or put it in a chamber with stems, collecting them in small bunches. Then you need to send the mint in resealable bags, remove and cut if necessary. This will allow you to decorate food and drinks with whole leaves.
Sorrel
Sorrel is difficult to keep fresh, it is a summer green. He also won't stay in the refrigerator for a long time, maximum - a week. Further, the beneficial and nutritional qualities will be lost, it will wither and lose its unique taste.
- You need to keep the product in a container with holes or in a bag in the lower section of the refrigerator. This should be done after complete drying, so you should first spread them out on a cotton towel.
- To freeze, you need to thoroughly rinse the plants in a large saucepan. Stir gently, let stand for a couple of minutes. This is enough for the donkey to settle the garbage and sand. Spread out on a towel until moisture drips off. Cut, dip in hot water, immediately remove and after cooling put in the freezer.
Dill
Dill is a popular and beloved greenery by almost everyone. It is great for many products, it gives ready meals unique aroma. Even those who are indifferent to greens eat it. But it grows for a maximum of six months, so the hostesses have come up with methods to extend its shelf life:
- Fridge. Rinse the herbs, wrap in plastic wrap. This will help preserve the beneficial properties for 10 days. For longer storage, put it in glass jar with a tight lid. It is not worth washing the dill first, you just need to collect it in bunches. The shelf life will be 15-20 days.
- Freezer You can put chopped and whole dill into it. Before doing this, rinse thoroughly, dry and divide into portions.
Lettuce leaves
The salad is great for light meals, sandwiches, decorating food in holidays... Greens have a unique delicate and juicy taste. Its disadvantage is that after processing, it quickly loses moisture. Therefore, the plant is usually bought in small quantities, which is enough for certain dishes. But there are a number of rules, and their observance will help keep the product in the refrigerator for more than 30 days:
- Divide the leaves into portions, put in plastic wrap, then put in a container with a lid.
- Send to the department for fruits and vegetables.
- Do not wash the product before storing it. The salad should be completely dried and chilled.
Video: how to store greens in the refrigerator so that they stay fresh for a long time?
- To revive the herbs, you need to dip the stems in a bowl of cool water mixed with a few drops of vinegar.
- Parsley and dill should be placed in a jar of water after purchase.
- Spices should not be salted before refrigeration.
- It is recommended to store mint and dill in foil and pack in small portions.
- When cutting, do not squeeze the greens with a knife too much. Thus, they will lose juice, which contains beneficial minerals and vitamins.
- Basil is best stored in plastic bag up to seven days. Leeks too, but they should be chopped, holes drilled and placed in a container. Its shelf life will be up to three months.
- For long-term storage of wild garlic, you can prepare a sandwich mixture. The greens should be very finely chopped, add a small amount of salt, pepper and mix with butter and lard passed through a meat grinder. Roll into sausages, wrap with cling film, put in the freezer. Then it can be eaten throughout the entire winter period.
Many types of greens retain useful properties in the refrigerator. Proper preparation and careful adherence to the rules for each product is important. You should also consider the purpose of storage and choose the appropriate method depending on it. For a long period, a freezer is needed, for a not very long period, a refrigerator.
Sorrel is considered to be a source of many micronutrients necessary for strengthening the body in winter. The herb tastes good. Therefore, greens are used in different recipes... The main disadvantage is that the plant is rapidly losing micronutrients. In this regard, sorrel is harvested for the winter by freezing, drying or salting.
The traditional method of preserving for the winter, which involves turning the cans over after rolling, does not help preserve the sorrel blanks. This is explained by the fact that the plant contains the acid of the same name, which corrodes the lids of the containers.
At room temperature, greens begin to dry within 1-2 days. Therefore, it is necessary to make preparations for the winter immediately after collecting the plant.
If it is not possible to immediately start conservation, a refrigerator helps to keep the plant at home. The pre-dried leaves placed in the vegetable compartment remain usable for up to two weeks.
How to choose and prepare a product?
For harvesting for the winter, it is recommended to collect sorrel in early May and until mid-July, in dry and sunny weather. During this period, the plant contains a minimum amount of acid harmful to the body. However, grass harvested at a later time (up to September) is suitable for harvesting for the winter.
It is recommended to cut the plant carefully, taking care not to damage the stem. Sorrel with a length of 4 centimeters is suitable for conservation. It is recommended to take whole leaves for storage without visible defects and traces of diseases. Also, do not pick yellowed or insect-eaten plants.
After harvesting, the leaves are washed in water (under running water or in a bowl). Dry the grass on a towel. If the sorrel is planned to be used later, then the plant must be placed in water.
Salting methods
Greens can be harvested by conservation or freezing. Salting methods are considered traditional, thanks to which the grass long time retains nutritional properties.
If one of the listed methods is used, it is recommended, after adding sorrel to the dish, to use 3 times less salt. When adding spinach or dill to this conservation, the herb should be taken in equal proportions.
For preservation for the winter, it is necessary to sterilize the containers. The greens are laid out in jars and tamped. Then the container is placed in a saucepan, where water is poured, and heated over low heat.
As it warms up, the grass will begin to produce juice. During this period, the sorrel gradually settles, so you need to periodically put the leaves so that the plant completely fills the glass container. As soon as the juice reaches the neck, the can can be removed from the pan. Silicone lids are used for seaming.
In brine
The product turns out to be tasty if brine is used for preparation for the winter. For preservation use:
- sorrel leaves (the amount is determined by the volume of the harvest);
- a teaspoon of salt (calculated in a 500 ml jar);
- boiling water.
To prepare a snack for the winter, the leaves are cut into strips and stacked (tamped) in 500 ml jars. Salt is poured into the container and boiling water is poured so that the water completely covers the plant. The jet should go strictly in the center of the can, without touching the walls.
At the end, the containers are rolled up and stored.
There is another recipe for making greens for the winter. In this case, use a tablespoon of salt and 100 milliliters of vinegar, and warm or cool water instead of boiling water. The resulting workpiece is not suitable for people who cannot tolerate acidic foods.
As a vitamin puree
To prepare vitamin puree for the winter, 50 grams of salt will be required for every kilogram of sorrel. The latter ensures the safety of the product.
The leaves are ground in a meat grinder (combine) and then mixed with salt. The resulting mass is infused for one hour. Next, the mashed potatoes are laid out in banks. Containers are recommended to be closed with tin lids.
Salt can be dispensed with if necessary. The absence of this component will not significantly affect the taste of the finished product.
There are two recipes for cold salting for the winter. The first will require a kilogram of sorrel and 30 grams of salt. The ingredients are ground together and left for 30 minutes, until the leaves give juice. After the allotted time, the resulting mixture is transferred to half-liter jars and closed with plastic lids.
For the second salting recipe for the winter, you will need:
- a kilogram of leaves;
- glass of water;
- microwave;
- 2 cans of 500 milliliters.
This recipe is convenient in that the preparation of the product is carried out without boiling the original ingredients.
The leaves are cut and placed on a plate. A glass of water is added to the mixture. The plate is placed for 4 minutes in the microwave oven, switched on at a power of 900 watts. After that, the ingredients are mixed and reheated. The third time, the plate is placed in the microwave for one minute.
After this treatment, the leaves acquire a dark swamp hue. At the end, the sorrel is transferred to banks, rammed tightly and rolled for the winter.
Sorrel drying
Drying is carried out naturally(in air) or in special equipment. The resulting product is used as a seasoning for various dishes. Before starting the process, it is recommended to sort the plant, removing rotten leaves, but not washing.
Natural
There are three ways to dry sorrel for the winter. For the first, it is necessary to tie the plant into loose bundles with a diameter of 5-7 centimeters, making sure that the air passes freely between the leaves. The grass is hung in a well-ventilated area or outdoors, in the shade, for 1-2 weeks.
The second option involves laying out sorrel on sheets of paper or other dry surface in a layer up to 5 centimeters thick. The plant must be kept indoors or on fresh air, away from sunlight. Every day the leaves are turned over, due to which normal drying is ensured.
For the last option, you need to sort out and wash the collected grass. The latter is then cut into strips of medium length and laid out in a thin layer on natural fabric or paper towels.
Accelerated
To preserve sorrel, you can prepare the plant for the winter in an electric vegetable dryer. This process takes less time than the previous ones. Dried sorrel in this way slightly changes the taste. Therefore, it is recommended to prepare a small batch of plants first. And if you like the taste of the product, you can start harvesting the remaining leaves.
Before putting plants in an electric dryer, you need to thoroughly rinse the leaves, letting the water drain on its own. The hydration process takes place in the "Herbs" mode or at a temperature of 40 degrees. Drying for the winter in this way takes about 5-7 hours.
A similar effect can be obtained by placing the leaves on a baking sheet and placing the latter in the oven. This option requires constant monitoring of the condition of the plant.
To achieve correct preparation and freeze sorrel for the winter, you need to rinse the collected greens under water and leave to dry on a paper or cloth towel. At the same time, the plant must remain moist, as the grass quickly withers under the influence of the environment.
Thanks to freezing in this way, sorrel long time stays fresh in the refrigerator, preserving not only taste, but also useful microelements. There are two options for preparing the product.
For the first method, you need to tie the leaves into small bunches. The bottom of the freezer or the board is wrapped with cling film. The bundles are laid out on the prepared surface. Once frozen, the plant is placed in storage containers and left over the winter.
The second way involves using both containers and packages. The leaves are also first bundled into small bunches. Next, the plants are placed in containers. Parchment is laid out between the bundles.
Freezing chopped sorrel in separate bags and containers
Freezing in this way allows the plant to be used immediately in winter, without wasting time on cutting. Grass harvesting is carried out in several stages:
- The leaves are washed, dried and finely chopped.
- The resulting mass is divided into portions and laid out in packages or containers.
- The containers are placed in the quick-freezer compartment.
The workpiece is kept in the freezer during the winter.
Freezing blanched sorrel
Freezing blanched greens is suitable for cases when the product is used later for pies. This limitation is due to the fact that the grass is subjected to multiple processing. As a result, greens lose micronutrients.
Before freezing for the winter, the plant is cut into small pieces. Then the mass is laid out in a saucepan, where a small amount of water is added. The greens are cooked over low heat for several minutes. The product is ready for freezing when the leaves become soft, the juice is released.
How to store the blanks?
Regardless of the method of harvesting for the winter, the storage rules provide for the following:
- after defrosting, the product must be consumed immediately;
- pickles are placed in cool rooms away from sunlight;
- dried herbs are placed in paper, cardboard or glass containers.
The salted product is suitable for consumption for 8 months. Frozen greens can be eaten within a year, dried - 2 years.
