I have a question....with all the great veggies out there now that it is summer, can I cut up some veggies and freeze them, or do I HAVE to blanch them first??? I'm thinking of summer squash and things like that....just curious what veggies can I cut up and freeze as is??

Hmmmm I don't know but I would sure like to! That's a great question and I am looking forward to seeing the responses.

I looked this up in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and they pretty much say to blanche everything. Apparently the blanching stops or slows the enzymes that cause loss of flavor and color. I guess freezing isn't enough to stop those pesky enzymes.

Here are a couple of guides to freezing veggies that I found online:
- http://www.gardenguides.com/TipsandT...s/freezing.htm
- http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/yf/foods/he187w.htm

- Barbara

Granted nothing can be as good as fresh veggies, but just curious... I don't know if I'd wantto blanch my squash or anything.... maybe you can't freeze summer squash

Well, I've bought frozen summer squash before- once. Let's just say that even professionally frozen, what goes in to the freezing process isn't nearly what comes out.

I agree. I have a vegetable garden and also go to a farmers market weekly, so we have lots of fresh veggies, but I don't bother freezing any of them in their natural state (if I've turned the veggies into something else, like soup or zucchini bread, sometimes I will freeze that). According to the links I posted, you can either saute or blanche zucchini and then freeze it (and anything you can do with zucchini, you can also do with summer squash), but I'm not sure how good it would come out. I expect that sauteing it would work better than blanching. What might work best would be to make whatever dish you would normally make with the summer squash and then freeze the finished product (or eat one portion of it now and freeze the remaining). That also gives you a ready made meal in your freezer.

I very rarely use frozen veggies, but when I do, I buy commercially frozen ones; "flash frozen" if I can find it. The commercial freezers have more powerful freezers that freeze the veggies faster, so the quality is better than what you can do at home. Freezing just doesn't seem worth the trouble (or the space it takes in my freezer).

- Barbara

Freezing zucchini or any summer squash, esp at home, is just not worth it - nor is canning, btw. You just get mush.

We too have a vegetable garden, and I freeze some things. Broccoli freezes very well, as does cauliflower. Peas are simple and very good. I also freeze, but like less, green beans and spinach. Other things, like beets, I can either plain or pickled. You do have to blanch everything, but it's not hard.

I also have strawberries and raspberries in my garden, and they are wonderful to have in your freezer all winter.