Asparagus Freezing Instructions (Without Blanching)

Although veggies get a lot of criticism for not being most people’s favorite foods, many individuals incorporate a significant quantity of vegetables in their diets and daily meals. After all, correctly prepared veggies may contribute a significant amount of flavor and texture to your food.

When you consider how many different veggies there are in the globe, you can normally expect to find a vegetable for just about every meal.

Asparagus is a popular vegetable that does not get nearly as much attention as it should. Asparagus is a popular vegetable in the United States, although it has a number of drawbacks.

For example, asparagus is one of the most perishable plants, so even in season, it might be difficult to locate what you need, much alone outside of the harvest season.

Asparagus often has a few-week peak in supermarkets, and during this time, you may wish to stock up on asparagus stems and complete plants so that you may enjoy them all year.

With their short lifespan, you may be unsure of the best approach to conserve them. Of course, they should be kept cooler, as should all product, but the issue is where.

Many people prefer to keep their asparagus in the freezer, but you can’t expect the exposed stalks to stay more than a few days in the freezer.

Since asparagus contains water, freezing it without adequate preparation may cause the color, taste, and texture of the vegetable to fade, leaving the vegetable not nearly as tasty as it should be.

If you want to store and retain some asparagus throughout the year, you’ll need to understand how to properly preserve it. Blanching asparagus before storage is generally advised, but not everyone has the time or inclination to do so.

If you fall into this group, you don’t have to worry too much since there are still methods to properly freeze your asparagus and have it stay longer than it would in the fridge.

Preparing the Asparagus

You will need to prepare the asparagus beforehand before freezing it. When dealing with perishable items like asparagus, you’ll want to work swiftly so that you may squeeze as much time out of them as possible.

If you are not going to blanch the asparagus, you may skip many stages in the freezing process, but be aware that the quality of your asparagus may suffer as a result.

When you are ready to cook the asparagus, you should first clip off the ends that you will not consume. They may be composted or thrown away as you see fit.

From here, you’ll want to start cleaning the asparagus stems and stalks since you don’t want to freeze any dirt or filth with the asparagus.

Freezing the Asparagus

After that, you’ll want to solve the issue that most asparagus has when frozen.

Asparagus has a high water content by nature, therefore freezing it might cause harm to the plant. The easiest method to counteract this is to drain as much asparagus as possible.

It should go without saying that the objective here isn’t necessary to totally dehydrate the asparagus, as you’ll want to preserve the stalks as useable as possible for when you take it out of the freezer.

Nonetheless, removing any and all extra moisture from the asparagus will go a long way in terms of preservability.

This involves draining the asparagus over the sink, which takes some time. You shouldn’t spend too much time on this since asparagus has to be cooled to stay fresh.

You may also attempt to dry the asparagus manually, but if you’re not sure how, it might be best to simply take a risk and see how long your asparagus will stay in the freezer.

You should then purchase a vacuum-sealable bag for your asparagus. If you intend on steaming or cooking the asparagus sous vide, this is also the moment when you would add spices to the bag.

You’ll want to make sure the vacuum bag you acquire is totally sealable, since the idea is to keep as much of the moisture in the asparagus as possible from being damaged by the freezer.

After all of the asparagus has been placed in the bag and any extra spices have been added, begin vacuum sealing the bag. Many food vacuum bag sealers are simple to operate, enabling you to simply remove extra air from the bag.

If you don’t have access to a vacuum sealer, just do everything you can to remove any extra air from the bag.

Eventually, your asparagus will be ready to go into the freezer. Without blanching the asparagus, it will survive a few months in the freezer before becoming utterly worthless owing to changes in texture and flavor.

How Can You Heat Them up Again?

When you are ready to use the asparagus, make sure that you open the packaging correctly so that it does not harm the asparagus. One thing to keep in mind is that if the asparagus is closer to a dull green or even gray tint, you should cut your losses and trash it.

When asparagus becomes this hue, it indicates that it has been substantially influenced by freezing conditions and is no longer of the same flavor or texture as it once was.

Leaving that aside, when you’re ready to boil the asparagus, the first thing you’ll want to do is poke a hole in the bag it’s in.

This will assist to gradually introduce air into the bag, making it simpler to take the asparagus from the bag when you’re ready to heat them up. If you don’t have a recipe in mind for the asparagus, there is something else you may try.

This is particularly effective if you have previously seasoned the asparagus. When you’re ready to dine, place the asparagus (together with the spice) in a microwave-safe bowl.

From here, place the asparagus in the microwave for around six minutes, however the precise time will depend on the wattage of the microwave. When the asparagus has been microwaved, you will have freshly steamed and seasoned asparagus to eat.