target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_4884b28a-de93-54cb-8d32-c7399a1b7d6e.jpg" alt="image"/> Free from Bisphenol A (BPA). While there’s a fair amount of controversy about how safe BPA is in food storage containers, I’d stay clear of it until it’s resolved. Several government agencies have issued studies and warnings about its safety.
These freezer containers are especially good because they are clear, have tightly locking lids, and can be easily stacked.
Allow Sufficient Headspace
Headspace is the distance between the lid of the container and the top of the food. When liquids freeze, they expand. So for foods that have high water content, you’ll need to anticipate this expansion. It won’t matter as much with dry-packed fruits and vegetables, but for soups, stews, juices, and fruits packed with syrup or other liquids, headspace is important. If you don’t allow sufficient space, the frozen food will pop the top off of your container. Be especially careful with soups, stews, and juices and avoid narrow-topped containers. Only use containers with tops the same width or wider than their bottoms. Foods with high water content will expand more when they freeze than those with low water content. If you put them in a narrow-topped container, they may break the container as they freeze and expand.
Use these general guidelines for headspace:
This illustration shows the kind of jar you’ll use for water-bath and pressure canning, but the same principles apply to freezer containers. Keep this image in mind as you read about headspace in chapters 4 through 6.
PROCESS OVERVIEW
We’ll go into specific differences between freezing fruits and vegetables in a bit, but the process is similar enough that it’s worth giving you the step-by-step just once.
1. Get your produce (either picked or purchased). Look for varieties that are known to freeze well. Make sure whatever you choose is fully ripe and in great condition. If necessary, let it ripen for a few days until it’s at its flavor peak.
2. If you can’t freeze your produce immediately, refrigerate it.
3. Prepare your workspace. An important part of that preparation is making sure that everything is as clean as you can make it. Keep in mind that freezing doesn’t kill bacteria; it just keeps them from growing.
4. For fruits only: Decide whether to dry-pack them, wet-pack them with sugar, or syrup-pack them. (I’ll explain this in a bit.) This will influence the type of freezer container that you will use. All types of freezer containers are suitable for dry packing, but syrup packing works best with rigid containers—preferably ones with straight sides (not tapered) and screw-on tops.
5. For fruits only: if syrup-packing, make your syrup and let it cool (see page 50).
6. Gather and thoroughly clean all equipment and utensils.
7. Work in small quantities—just a few freezer containers at a time—to ensure the highest quality.
8. Examine and wash your produce carefully, changing the water frequently. Prepare the produce as described in the sections to follow (remove stems, seeds, and pits, and cut as desired).
9. Treat your produce to prevent darkening, if necessary. Generally, this is only for light-colored fruits such as apples, peaches, apricots, nectarines, pears, and bananas. See “Treating for Discoloration” in the appendix.
10. Blanch all vegetables as well as the fruits that you want to soften or remove skin from. (See “All About Blanching” in the appendix.)
11. Pack the produce according to instructions, leaving sufficient headspace if packing with liquid. (See “Allowing Sufficient Headspace” on page 45.)
12. Label the container with the contents and date, and update your freezer inventory.
13. Put your preserves in the freezer at -10 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the food is solidly frozen, return the freezer to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
14. Enjoy within the next year!
THE TROUBLEMAKERS
The goal of freezing—or any type of food preservation—is to make the food not only safe but also tasty. There are a number of issues that can impair the quality of your frozen foods.
