If you like to prevent food waste in your household, you probably hate to get fresh fruits and veggies only to have them go to waste.
There are not many fresh food items that keep for a long time, and this can lead to the dreaded food waste that you have been trying to avoid. If you love broccoli, you probably hate how easy it is to waste the broccoli that you have purchased.
You might be looking for a way to make sure that you are not going to spend money on fresh food and have to throw it out.
You can vacuum seal broccoli to keep it fresh, but you must be sure that you do not keep it in the fridge.
Vegetables like broccoli, which is cruciferous, can emit gas when they are refrigerated, which will make them spoil no matter how they are stored. When stored in the freezer, however, vacuum sealed broccoli can keep for months.
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How to Vacuum Seal Broccoli
Broccoli takes a bit more work to vacuum seal than some other kinds of foods. You will need to make sure that you complete this process correctly, or your broccoli will spoil even when stored in a quality vacuum sealed container.
As with all other vacuum sealing projects, make sure that you have clean hands when you start vacuum sealing so that you don’t seal bacteria into the storage bag with your food.
You will need to blanch your broccoli to make sure that it stays fresh while it is stored. This is not a step that you can skip if you want to make sure that your broccoli can be kept for the long haul in your freezer. It is not hard to blanch veggies, and this simple process will be outlined here.
Make sure as well that you are not storing too much broccoli in each bag. This can lead to the seal on the bag failing. You might need to split up large sections of broccoli into smaller and more manageable segments to get a good seal on your bags.
There are few other veggies with the kind of shape that broccoli offers. This can be a tough shape to get a good seal on without some prep work to split up the heads of broccoli that you want to store.
How to Blanch Broccoli
You will need to prepare a large bowl of ice water, which will be used for your ice bath. You will also need a slotted spoon and a plate that is lined with a paper towel or a cloth. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
Prepare your vegetables to be blanched by trimming off part of the ends of the heads of broccoli and cleaning off leaves and other unwanted debris. Add your veggies to the boiling water in small batches and let them sit in the water for about 30 seconds.
Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon and dip it into the ice bath right away. Remove from the ice bath when the broccoli has cooled somewhat and lay on the lined plate to dry.
Allow the broccoli to dry completely before you store them, or they might spoil due to the moisture trapped in the vacuum sealed bag. You can help this process by patting your broccoli dry as well, but you will still need to be sure that your broccoli is never sealed when wet.
Make sure as well that you are meticulous about blanching all of the sections of your broccoli. Even one section of broccoli that is not blanched can lead to the whole bag going bad.
This is not an easy vegetable to store when it comes to preventing waste, so be sure to do this process correctly from start to finish.
How Long Will Broccoli Keep When It is Frozen?
When your broccoli has been carefully prepared and prepped to go into the freezer, you will want to make sure that you do not place it where heavy objects can compress the bags or crush the broccoli.
Make sure as well that you date the bags that you store so that you know when they were stored. It can be easy to forget when a bag was sealed up and open up broccoli that is not fit to eat.
Your broccoli will keep in the freezer for about six months. Always be sure to check the seal on the bags that you have in storage and make use of any bags that are starting to lose their seal right off. This is not common, but sometimes sealed foods can lose the quality of the seal and will need to be consumed right away.
Always make sure that you allow your broccoli to come up to temperature and thaw out slowly. You might even want to place it in the fridge to let it thaw out really gently.
This is a vegetable that can suffer from bad texture and bad taste when it is forced to warm up too fast after being in the freezer. It makes no sense to take the time to store your broccoli so carefully, only to ruin it when you are thawing it out.
Vacuum Sealing Broccoli is Not Hard
If you are tired of wasting lots of broccoli every time you buy it because you just can’t eat it fast enough, then a vacuum sealer is the right choice for you. You will have no trouble storing your broccoli using the tips and tricks in this article.
You might also have learned that you cannot store your broccoli in the fridge even if it is placed in a vacuum sealed bag. Make sure to follow the blanching process correctly and completely for the best results with your broccoli storage process.
You will never have to fret about having broccoli on hand that is fresh and delicious when you use a vacuum sealer to preserve this vegetable.
Brianna is a self-published author with a passion for sharing her knowledge and expertise on a variety of topics with people who are looking to find the perfect items for their needs. She loves making sure that the right kind of informative content is available to people looking for the right information. She is an avid horseback rider and reader when she is not writing.
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