How to Freeze Broccoli & Cauliflower
You’ve got a glut of gorgeous broccoli heads, or the prettiest harvest of cauliflower: but the problem is, you can’t eat this many brassicas before they go bad!
Luckily, it’s easy to freeze broccoli and cauliflower right at home. All you need is a few pots, a strainer, a cookie sheet, and a freezer, then you’re good to go!
Preparing the Heads
When picking heads of broccoli or cauliflower from the garden, use a sharp knife to sever the big stem rather than snapping it off, if at all possible. Small florets can be snapped off by hand. Most broccoli will keep putting off small florets after the main head is harvested, so if you want more broccoli, leave the plants standing!
Once you’ve brought your harvested heads inside, rinse off them with cool water. Inspect carefully for cabbage worms or other insects. Heavily infested heads are best chucked directly to the chickens, if you have them. If there’s only a few, you can pick them off and cut out damaged spots.
If you don’t want to chop and freeze your broccoli or cauliflower immediately, you can store it in the refrigerator for a few days. We’ve found the best way to keep them crisp and prevent wilting is to place them in a plastic bag with a few damp (not sopping wet!) paper towels, and tightly sealing the bag.
Broccoli and cauliflower stored this way is usually good for a few days. After that, it’s a good idea to start thinking about freezing.
Chopping
When you’re ready to start freezing your harvest, it’s time to bring out the knives! No matter if you’re freezing cauliflower or broccoli, you’ll want to chop up your big heads of brassica into small pieces, also called florets.
If your florets have long stems or stalks attached, trim them to your preferred length. Broccoli that was harvested in floret form (sprouted up after the large head has been harvested) may not need too much trimming. If any florets are bigger than you’d like them to be, chop them down to size.
Once all your broccoli and/or cauliflower has been chopped to your preferred size, pile it up in a bowl, and move to the stovetop.
Instructions for Blanching
Before popping these florets in the freezer, we’ve got to blanch them first!
Begin by setting a large pot of water to boiling. Make sure the pot is big enough to hold both the boiling water and your chopped florets. Aim to get a rolling boil. While waiting on that, get a ice bath ready. An ice bath can be as simple as a large bowl or pot full of cold water and a generous amount of ice.
Once at a rolling boil, add broccoli or cauliflower, stir, and cover with lid. Let blanch for 3 minutes, then drain through a strainer or colander.
Immediately submerge the broccoli/cauliflower in the ice water to stop the cooking process. If you are processing purple cauliflower florets, please note that the purple color will fade- this is normal! Purple, tragically, doesn’t tend to survive heat.
Fish out your florets from the ice bath with a slotted spoon or clean hands, and transfer to a towel, gently patting some water off with either another towel, or a paper towel.
Now you can move on to actually freezing!
Freezing Broccoli & Cauliflower
Line a baking sheet or cookie sheet with freezer or parchment paper.
Scatter your chopped, blanched florets of cauliflower or broccoli onto the lined baking sheet. Arrange them into a single layer, place the filled pan in your freezer, and leave until frozen solid.
Once frozen solid, your broccoli and cauliflower is much better at keeping its shape and not falling apart! Now you can pack your harvest away into freezer bags (or vacuum-seal bags), squeezing out as much air as possible as you seal them.
Label with contents and the date, and put the bags back in your freezer to store.
Frozen cauliflower and broccoli should be good for 6 months to 1 year after freezing. A good way to tell if your brassicas as still good is to go by taste: if it tastes like your freezer, throw it out!
