It's an open secret that potato soup tastes much better when made in bulk. In general, hobby cooks tend to create several liters of this delicacy, which is popular at any time of the year. You can freeze the soup that you do not enjoy eating right away. Our guide will tell you how this works in detail!

The potato soup should be frozen in a tightly sealed container

What to generally consider when freezing potato soup

There are several points that you should definitely keep in mind if you want to freeze your potato soup. If you do it wrong, it can quickly happen that both the consistency and the taste of the soup leave a lot to be desired after defrosting.

Only freeze mashed potato soup

Only freeze creamy (mashed) potato soup. You should not put soups with diced potatoes in the freezer. Otherwise, you will end up with translucent to mushy potatoes that taste unusually sweet.

Brief explanation of the sudden sweetness: In the tuber of a potato, starch is constantly being converted into sugar. The tuber needs the latter for its metabolism. If the temperatures drop below four degrees Celsius, the metabolism slows down - but sugar is still provided. In this cooler situation, however, the tuber no longer needs this to the full extent. As a result, the sugar is deposited in the tuber and the potato takes on a sweet taste.

Reason for the mushyness: The water in the cells of the potatoes freezes, expands and destroys the cell membrane. This causes the potatoes to lose their crispness.

Add certain ingredients afterwards

It is best to add some of the ingredients that you want to add to your potato soup afterwards (i.e. after freezing and thawing). These include, for example, the classic sausages or smoked salmon. Herbs, cream or milk should also not be mixed into the potato soup before freezing, but after it has thawed.

Note: Some home cooks create their potato soup with cream or milk and freeze it that way. We advise against this. It turns out again and again that soups with cream or milk suffer in the freezer. There's an understandable reason for this: after thawing and heating the frozen potato soup, the fatty liquids separate from the rest and flake out - not very appetizing. In short: only add cream or milk to the potato soup after it has been thawed and heated.

Freezing and defrosting potato soup - short step-by-step instructions

  1. Fill your prepared potato soup into a sufficiently large and lockable container that is suitable for the freezer. A container should contain no more than a liter of potato soup. Otherwise, thawing is a long story.
  2. Seal the containers and place them in the freezer.
  3. When the time is right, take the containers of potato soup out of the freezer.
  4. Let the soup thaw for a few hours.
  5. Pour off the water that floats on top (otherwise the soup will be too thin).
  6. Pour the potato soup into a saucepan and heat it up. During the heating you should stir again and again to get a homogeneous mass.
  7. Add the remaining ingredients (e.g. cream, milk, herbs, sausages, etc.).

Taste and shelf life of a frozen potato soup

As far as taste is concerned, opinions differ. Some find no difference between a fresh potato soup and one that has been frozen and thawed; Others, on the other hand, are of the opinion that the latter tastes less aromatic. In the end you only have one choice; Give it a try and see for yourself whether you like your defrosted potato soup.

The shelf life of frozen potato soup is about three months. However, it is better to eat the soup within four to six weeks.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden