It’s nice to cultivate your vegetable garden, you still have to keep your crops. Today I am talking to you about storing broccoli. With us it’s a star vegetable, everyone loves it. Besides insects and birds too! To make it a success, we grow it under anti-insect veils otherwise it would not go beyond the 3-leaf stage. By the way, if you grow any, give us your tips in the comments.
Which storage method should you generally choose?
With us, we use 5 main preservation methods: fresh (when possible such as carrots, onions, potatoes, beets, etc.), then dehydration, sterilization, lacto fermentation and finally freezing.
For those who asked me the question, yes I know that sterilization destroys a good part of the vitamins. But I’m going to explain to you why I still chose to sterilize part of our crops and also why I don’t focus solely on sterilization either.
The secret is to do with your uses, your tastes and storage capacities. For example, lactofermentation is certainly very healthy, but it changes the taste of vegetables. If you don’t like sauerkraut, you’re not going to store cabbage this way. It seems logical, but given some comments I receive I prefer to clarify my thinking.
At home until now, we kept carrots mainly in jars because it is very practical to add them quickly to a simmered dish in winter. But as it is possible to keep them fresh in a silo, we also began to grow storage carrots for this purpose. We have it fresh and in jars. If you don’t have the space to create a silo or a place to store it, it’s obvious that, even if it’s the easiest to do and it preserves the vitamins better (no energy needed at all) , this is not a good option for you.
There are followers of freezing also, it is true that this mode of preservation protects the vitamins better than sterilized jars, but for certain vegetables, question of the taste buds, preservation in jars is much better. For example, have you ever found that canned green beans are better than frozen green beans? Again, it’s personal taste. vacuum can help. And here too the opposite is true, some vegetables are better frozen than in jars.
Another downside that I could give to freezing is the permanent need for electricity. So I use it too, but not alone because it’s risky. We have already lost everything in our freezer due to an electrical problem while we were away. At least the jars, once made, they keep for several years without energy. I tend to say: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. And don’t be quick to judge a way of doing things, there’s often a good reason for that. I share with you my methods proven in my contextyours is different and there may be a better solution for you.
As you will have understood, there is not one way to do it, but several ways to do it which depend on your uses, your tastes and your possibilities.
How to store broccoli?
To preserve the broccoli I chose the freezing option. But be aware that you can also make natural broccoli in jars or lacto fermented. It is not excluded that one day I choose this option! For our current use, ie either steaming or wok and still crunchy, freezing lends itself better.
Storage steps for frozen broccoli
Immerse the broccoli heads in vinegar water to wash them well and eliminate the insects.
Cut the heads into a bouquet. In a saucepan, heat salted water and plunge the broccoli florets into .boiling salted water to blanch them for 3 minutes
Drain the broccoli without a colander.- Then, place the bouquets on a clean tea towel to dry them well. This step is important to avoid ice crystals which would form during freezing and which would denature the product.
- Then you can put them in a bag, ideally under vacuum if you have a device, this allows better conservation, longer and without ice crystals.
- You can now lay out your sachets flat in your freezer. Freezing them flat prevents the bouquets from sticking together. Once frozen, you can place the bag as you wish.
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