# Freezing blanched spinach



## rikardob (Aug 13, 2011)

That's what I do with all my shrimp veggies.


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## john.shephard25 (Oct 13, 2011)

My shrimps use to love it.


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## FreedPenguin (Aug 2, 2011)

How long do you blanch for? 
I use cold water in a bowl and microwave it for around 2 minutes.
I tried 30 sec and 1 min but the shrimp dont touch the veggies until 24-48 hours in when it starts to break down.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Boil some water up, i use a stove, and then dip the spinach in for 30seconds to 1min. It should turn completely soft. Then I just put them into little ice cube trays and store them.


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## FreedPenguin (Aug 2, 2011)

Cool. Thanks everyone for input!


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I tried making tiny ice cube trays out of the containers that frozen bloodworms are sold in. The idea works well enough, but I've had problems with the ice subliming over time, so that the spinach is exposed to the freezer air and dries out somewhat. I need to make fewer, make the cubes larger, or use them faster, I suppose. In any case, the shrimp like them, and I just drop the ice cube in frozen. The spinach floats around for a bit, as it has air bubbles stuck to its surface after thawing, but it eventually sinks and all is well.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

LIkely don't even need to blanch. Freezing will rupture the cells and make them easy to eat as it is. I freeze zucchini and do not cook it at all.


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## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

I blanch then freeze mine in those frozen bloodworm cubes too. Someone should try just freezing spinach without blanching and see if the shrimp can easily eat it.


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## junko (Sep 9, 2011)

Isn't frozen spinach already blanched?


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## FreedPenguin (Aug 2, 2011)

I bought a single bunch of organic spinach. I will try both blanching and freezing and just freezing some. 
I figure blanching will make it easier for me to fit it into the ice cube trays.
Upon freezing I want to put them all in a ziploc bag and try to suck out air from it.


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

lol, as a chef this kinda made me giggle =).


please take no offense


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

OverStocked said:


> LIkely don't even need to blanch. Freezing will rupture the cells and make them easy to eat as it is. I freeze zucchini and do not cook it at all.


I tried this with turnip greens. It was relatively easy to get it to sink. I wound up putting a piece of gravel on top to keep it down. The shrimp didn't seem to take it as well as parboiled, but I didn't do any sort of rigorous comparison. I want to say that someone on here just freezes the leaves in a plastic baggy then pulls them out singly. Can't remember who though.



junko said:


> Isn't frozen spinach already blanched?


Blanching either means turning something white or pale (like someone's face before they pass out) or parboiling it. Freezing has much the same effect for our purposes though, you're right.


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## FreedPenguin (Aug 2, 2011)

dj2606 said:


> lol, as a chef this kinda made me giggle =).
> 
> 
> please take no offense


None taken. Just trying to figure out the best way of doing this.


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## RandomMan (May 31, 2011)

I tried just freezing romaine lettuce leaves. The shrimp wouldn't have anything to do with it when thawed out. Blanched they love. So at least for romaine, you need to do more than just freeze it.


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## junko (Sep 9, 2011)

I meant that the frozen spinach you buy has been blanched before it has been frozen. It's part of the process they go through to freeze veggies.


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## rikardob (Aug 13, 2011)

Interesting. I'll try just freezing some spinach and report back.


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

FreedPenguin said:


> None taken. Just trying to figure out the best way of doing this.


Spinach can be frozen after blanching. Normally we blanch and shock (shocking a veg means to place in an ice bath immediately after removing from boiling water this prevents it from cooking even further).

What I would do is first get a large bowl and fill with ice and water. Then bring water to boil (no salt) in a pot put in the spinach for 10sec (spinach shouldn't take long like other thicker veggies i.e squash, zucchini, carrot, etc.). After wilting occurs immediately remove and place into your ice bath. Once chilled squeeze water from the spinach (as much as you can) and form the clumps into small cubes (however the portion size you desire). Place cubes on a flat tray, making sure the cubes are not touching and place in freezer. Then once frozen you can remove from the tray and place in a ziplock bag to save some freezer space.


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## zdnet (Aug 13, 2010)

junko said:


> I meant that the frozen spinach you buy has been blanched before it has been frozen. It's part of the process they go through to freeze veggies.


What is the purpose of blanching before freezing? 

When I fed my CRS frozen organic spinach, they could not tear it apart. But had no problem after the frozen spinach had been blanched for three minutes.


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

zdnet said:


> What is the purpose of blanching before freezing?
> 
> When I fed my CRS frozen organic spinach, they could not tear it apart. But had no problem after the frozen spinach had been blanched for three minutes.


You were not blanching for three minutes. The spinach you had was already blanched then frozen. You were simply thawing it. 

The reason you blanch vegetables before freezing is because it stops or slows the enzymes. These enzymes will continue being active even during frozen storage causing them to toughen.


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## zdnet (Aug 13, 2010)

dj2606 said:


> You were not blanching for three minutes.


What is your definition of blanching?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

If you're freezing then IMO there's no reason to even bother blanching it in the first place- the ice crystals created during freezing break up the cellular membranes.

I personally don't blanch any of my veggies- makes them turn to mush too quickly once in the tank, plus I'm of the theory that it's better to preserve nutrients as intact as possible rather than cooking them.


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

blanching - to scald vegetables preventing the enzymes from maturing

If you bought frozen boxed spinach it was blanched before frozen, boxed, and sold to you.



lauraleellbp said:


> If you're freezing then IMO there's no reason to even bother blanching it in the first place- the ice crystals created during freezing break up the cellular membranes.


How is this done? How do you freeze spinach not blanched?


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## zdnet (Aug 13, 2010)

dj2606 said:


> blanching - to scald vegetables preventing the enzymes from maturing


How do you "scald" vegetables?



dj2606 said:


> How do you freeze spinach not blanched?


Are you suggesting that freezing is a form of blanching? Therefore, one cannot freeze without blanching?


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

to heat just below boiling point


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

dj2606 said:


> blanching - to scald vegetables preventing the enzymes from maturing
> 
> If you bought frozen boxed spinach it was blanched before frozen, boxed, and sold to you.
> 
> ...


I don't bother doing either, but IMO it's easier to take fresh veggies and just stick them in the freezer.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

dj2606 said:


> How is this done? How do you freeze spinach not blanched?


You buy fresh spinach. You place fresh spinach into freezer. You just froze spinach without blanching it.


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

It's easier, yes.

During a service I keep many different leafed vegetables that I use to prepare food in a opened top cooler. This cooler (kept at roughly 38F) is so I can grab items needed to cook food at moments notice in high volume. At the end of service I usually have to throw out those leafed greens not used because of the frozen rot. Makes me sad really, hate wasting food, however not everything is blanched and is served fresh during service


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## dj2606 (Mar 27, 2009)

I am not saying that you cannot freeze a vegetable without blanching, however certain ones if not blanched will not be edible (at least I wouldn't use them to prepare a meal with), but shrimps may not care =). 

But the OP wanted to know if it was possible to portion out blanched spinach and freeze those portions.


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## zdnet (Aug 13, 2010)

dj2606 said:


> to heat just below boiling point


However, the common definition of blanching vegetables is leaving them in boiling water for a short period of time. And that is what I meant when I said I blanched frozen spinach.


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## zdnet (Aug 13, 2010)

dj2606 said:


> But the OP wanted to know if it was possible to portion out blanched spinach and freeze those portions.


That is possible and is what I do. I blanched a portion of the frozen spinach. Then freeze them for later use.


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

I freeze them, thaw them, then feed them.


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## jeremyblevins (Aug 14, 2010)

I would blanch any vegetables that you are freezing. If you don't it is highly likely that by the time you go to fed it to your shrimp the nutrients are all gone and you're feeding your shrimp pretty much nothing but water.

Oops. I feel like an idiot didn't read the date.


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