With its sweet and tart taste, the rediscovered swede enriches the colorful autumn kitchen. Together with other vegetables, it is processed into delicious stews. If you can't use all of the giant tuber at once, you can freeze the leftovers.

Swedes are better blanched and frozen

The right time to freeze

Everything has its optimum time, including freezing swedes.

  • from the beginning of the harvest in October
  • sometimes even in September
  • until the end of the harvest season in November

Due to the good storability, swedes are still sold on markets until March. For the time after that, the freezer is a good supplier, provided it has been well stocked beforehand.

tips

It is better to buy smaller beets, as large specimens often taste woody.

Whole tubers are far too big for the chest

Swedes reach a considerable size. For food, they are therefore always crushed into bite-sized pieces. Conveniently, if the rutabaga is to be frozen, this work must be done beforehand.

  1. Brush the swede clean with a vegetable brush, preferably under running tap water.
  2. Remove the outer skin from the beet.
  3. Chop the bulb into small pieces. It doesn't matter if you cut slices, cubes or sticks.
  4. Fill a large saucepan with plenty of water and bring to a boil.
  5. Once the water is boiling, add a portion of turnips. Not too much at once, otherwise the water will cool down.
  6. Cook the pieces over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes.
  7. Take out the finished blanched pieces, place them in a colander and rinse immediately with cold water.
  8. As soon as the water in the pot boils again, you can blanch the next portion until you have the entire amount ready.

Let cool and then pack

The swedes should not be placed hot in the freezer. Before they go into freezer containers, all pieces must be completely cold and dry. But then it's time to pack it up quickly, label it and put it in the freezer.

durability

Blanched swedes will keep for up to six months in the freezer. Since swede can only be processed further when cooked, the deep-frozen pieces do not have to be thawed beforehand. The heat from cooking ensures rapid defrosting on its own.

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