Today's

At my local store they had Asparagus on sale for $.99 cents per lb. That is a great price!  So, I bought two bundles. I cooked one for soup and froze the other for later.  


How to:


Take the bunch of Asparagus and trim the cut ends. You want to cut off about 2 inches or so to remove the woody fibrous ends. Blanch in salted boiling water for a minute or two, then drop in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Dry on a paper towel and then place on cooking sheet. Plate the pan with the asparagus in the freezer until frozen. Then place in plastic bag, or freeze in portion sizes with food saver.  


Why blanch you ask?


Blanching is the scalding of vegetables in boiling water or steam. Blanching slows or stops the action of enzymes.  Up until harvest time, enzymes cause vegetables to grow and mature.  If vegetables are not blanched, or blanching is not long enough, the enzymes continue to be active during frozen storage causing off colors, off flavors and toughening. 

Now, I freeze in a single layer and then put in bags so that later I can take out what I need without them all freezing together!  This works really well with fruit too!