Home freezing and storing pumpkin for the winter: recipes, recommendations, reviews

Does frozen pumpkin lose its properties?

It is worth noting that when properly frozen, almost all properties and beneficial vitamins are preserved in pumpkin. The main condition is proper storage and defrosting.

Does frozen pumpkin lose its properties:

• The vegetable, depending on the method of preparation, can be added to salads, soups, muffins, pancakes, or even prepared as a puree for infants as a first complementary food. The amount of vitamins retained depends on the preparation method.
• Most of them are preserved in fresh product, which is washed, cut into pieces and frozen fresh. There are fewer vitamins in pumpkin that is pre-boiled, baked or heat-treated before freezing.
• There are many ways to freeze a vegetable for the winter, depending on what you plan to do with it.

Preparation

What dish can be made from frozen pumpkin?

The first and most convenient way to store pumpkin and its subsequent preparation is ready-made puree :

• the pumpkin is pre-boiled or baked directly with the peel (after baking, the peel is easily separated from the pulp);
• You can grind the pumpkin in a blender or rub it through a sieve;
• the puree is frozen in any suitable container - silicone molds, containers, plastic jars, glasses, etc.;
• defrost the finished dish in the microwave or on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Recipes for quick and tasty frozen pumpkin dishes are varied: soups and puree soups, vegetable stews and side dishes, cereal and pumpkin porridges, baked goods and desserts, pancakes and pancakes, meat dishes. What can you make from frozen pumpkin?

Pumpkin cut into cubes

It turns out that the ways you can use this frozen vegetable depend on how it was frozen:

• ready-made frozen puree , for example, for dietary nutrition or feeding a baby, is defrosted and heated. Puree is perfect as an ingredient in baking dough;
• Grated pumpkin is added to the dough for pancakes and muffins, used as a filling for pancakes and pies, in the preparation of casseroles and cutlets. Rich, bright color, pumpkin fibers will look great in vegetable and meat soups, giving them a special deep taste;
• diced pumpkin is added to soups, vegetable side dishes and stews, meat dishes, sautés, porridges and purees. In salads, you should not count on the high decorative quality of thawed cubes, but they will retain their great taste.

Frozen pumpkin is suitable for main and sweet dishes, goes well with various spices

How can you freeze pumpkin?

An excellent option is grated vegetables. This option is suitable if you usually do not prepare porridge from vegetables, but use them as additives in baked goods, as well as pancakes. This is a great option for breakfasts and feeding children who don't want to eat pumpkin.

How to freeze pumpkin:

• To use this method, you need to wash the fruit, peel it, remove the seeds and grate it. It is best if it is large, then you will get some kind of flakes. Next, the vegetable is placed in a plastic bag.
• It is best to choose bags with a vacuum seal. Regular or freezer containers will work.
• Remember that there is no need to fill the container to the top with the product, as it may expand a little after freezing. To prevent the jar or container from bursting, leave some free space in it.

Packing

How to defrost pumpkin correctly?

If it is puree, then use a regular microwave oven. The same is done with frozen baked pumpkin, although it is practically an independent dish - after defrosting, all that remains is to add butter, salt and, if desired, sugar. If you want to cook porridge with pumpkin, then this product can be put in a pan when the porridge is almost cooked.

If you have frozen pumpkin pieces, then place them in a pan with boiling water or milk, and then wait until it is completely cooked.

You can simply leave the product on the counter until completely thawed. It’s best to do this overnight so you can start cooking in the morning.

When and how to freeze pumpkin?

Please note that the optimal time for harvesting vegetables for the winter is September-November. It is at this time that the fruits are very juicy, ripe and maximally saturated with vitamins.

How to freeze pumpkin:

• In addition, such a vegetable is stored for a very long time, due to its saturation with useful substances and ripeness.
• For harvesting, choose fruits that have no green spots on top and the tail is dry. In this case, it is necessary that the seeds are almost dry, and the pulp near the seeds is sluggish.
• This indicates the ripeness of the fruit and its readiness for freezing. Grated, frozen pumpkin is usually added to pancakes or muffins. Before use, defrost at room temperature or administer frozen.

Preparing the vegetable

How to defrost vegetables correctly?

Frozen vegetables can be used to prepare many dishes: soups, meat delicacies, porridges, baked goods, casseroles. However, before adding pumpkin, you need to consider a few rules:

1. Pumpkin in small cubes can be added directly to hot dishes without first defrosting. Simply dip the pieces into boiling liquid, milk or broth and cook until tender.
2. Chopped frozen pumpkin for filling or cottage cheese casserole must first be placed in a colander and thawed at room temperature. Then squeeze the excess moisture out of the pumpkin with your hands.
3. Pumpkin puree can be defrosted in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf or using the "Defrost" function of the microwave oven. Since the vegetable has already undergone preliminary heat treatment, it is better to add it to the porridge at the end of cooking.

How to freeze pumpkin cubes for the winter?

Suitable for making porridges and baby purees.

How to freeze pumpkin cubes for the winter:

• It is necessary to peel the vegetable, cut into cubes, and blot with a paper towel to get rid of moisture.
• Next, place it on a plastic sheet and leave it in the freezer for a few minutes. It is necessary that the cubes freeze a little and become hard.
• After this, they are transferred to a sealed bag or a special container for freezing.
• You can cook pumpkin in another way, in a ready-made form.

Ripe vegetables

Freezing pumpkin pulp

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Number of servings: 20

Energy value

Per 100 g of finished product:

• calories – 27 kcal;
• proteins – 1 g;
• fats – 0.1 g;
• carbohydrates – 7 g.

Ingredients:

• pumpkin – 2 kg.

Preparation

1. To prepare porridge or casserole, many video recipes use pumpkin grated on a coarse grater. The pumpkin is pre-washed, cleaned of thick skin and seeds.
2. Then cut into medium-sized slices so that it is comfortable to hold in your hand.
3. The most difficult part of the process is grating.
4. The finished mass is laid out in small bags or plastic containers and sent to the freezer.

Tip: if you need to freeze a large amount of grated pumpkin, you can grind it using a food processor using the desired grater.

How to freeze pumpkin for a child?

To do this, it can be prepared in several ways.

How to freeze pumpkin for a child:

• It is necessary to peel the fruit, select the seeds and cut into small pieces. After this, you need to bake in the oven and grind in a blender or meat grinder. Alternatively, you can boil it in water and mash it using a potato masher.
• The resulting mass must be transferred to a plastic container, closed with a lid and placed in the cold. This kind of puree is defrosted in the microwave or heated by boiling, then given to the child.
• It is best to pre-boil or boil the prepared puree for several minutes before giving it to your baby.

Preparation

Making pumpkin puree

When choosing ways to properly freeze pumpkin, you should not ignore this recipe. It will take more time to prepare, but the result will appeal not only to adults, but also to children. Homemade pumpkin puree can be safely given to babies as their first food. The puree is also suitable as a filling for baked goods, such as buns or muffins.

You can prepare pumpkin puree for further freezing as follows:

Pumpkin puree

1. Cut the washed pumpkin into two halves, remove the seeds along with the fibrous pulp. Rinse the vegetable again with cool water.
2. Cut the vegetable into large slices along with the peel.
3. Prepare a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper.
4. Heat the oven to 180-200 degrees.
5. Place pumpkin slices on a baking sheet and place in a hot oven. Bake the pumpkin for an hour.
6. Remove the vegetable slices from the oven, transfer to a plate and cool. Separate the pumpkin pulp from the peel.
7. Puree the pumpkin pulp using a blender or wooden pestle.
8. Spoon the resulting vegetable puree into ice trays, small containers, and plastic cups.
9. Freeze the vegetable puree in the freezer for 2-3 hours.
10. When the puree is frozen, carefully remove it from the molds and pour it into a plastic bag. Seal the bags hermetically and put them back in the freezer.

Attention! Pumpkin cubes can be used not only for cooking, but also in cosmetology. For example, add pumpkin to rejuvenating or toning masks for the face, neck, décolleté, and hair.

If you don’t have an oven, you can prepare pumpkin for puree in several ways:

1. Boil the vegetable. To do this, you need to boil water in a deep saucepan. Throw the pumpkin pieces with peel into the boiling liquid. Simmer vegetable slices over low heat for 15 minutes until soft. After this, place the pieces in a colander and cool. The last step is to separate the vegetable slices from the peel and grind with a blender.
2. Bake in the microwave. To cook a vegetable using this method, you will need to take a glass bowl from the microwave and fill it halfway with water. Next add pumpkin pieces to the container. Place the dish in the microwave oven. Cook the vegetable at maximum power for 15-20 minutes. After this, cool the pumpkin pieces, separate from the peel and puree.

Each of the above methods has its undoubted advantages. However, modern chefs prefer preparing pumpkin puree for the winter from a vegetable baked in the oven. This method allows you to preserve most of the beneficial properties of the product and taste.

Preparation of puree

Is it possible to freeze pumpkin in the freezer?

Let’s say right away - yes, you can freeze pumpkin in the freezer. There are several other options for preparing and storing frozen pumpkin for the winter. This option is suitable if you like to cook pancakes, porridge or add pumpkin to ready-made muesli or oatmeal.

Is it possible to freeze pumpkin in the freezer:

• To do this, you need to peel it, cut it into pieces and place it in the microwave, adding a little water to the plate. Turn on the microwave at maximum power and cook until soft.
• Now you need to place the pieces on a towel and dry them a little so that water does not flow from them. Next, the pumpkin is laid out in a thin layer on a baking sheet and frozen in the freezer for several minutes.
• After this, it is transferred to a plastic bag or food storage container. This pumpkin must be cooked after defrosting. In principle, it is ready to eat immediately after defrosting. Usually it is crushed to make pureed soups, or added to second and first courses. Often prepared into cupcakes and added to desserts.

Harvesting

Slicing methods

Very small pumpkins can be cut into quarters or even halves. We cut large fruits into slices 3 centimeters thick (they can be frozen in this form, or used for further preparation of puree) or cubes. Next, cut into cubes with a side of 1-2 centimeters or grind on a grater.

When freezing in pieces, first place the chopped pumpkin in one layer on a flat surface (a baking sheet, cutting board, or plastic lined directly in the freezer) so that the parts do not touch each other, otherwise they will stick together. After a couple of hours, when the cubes are well frozen , you can pour them into a container for further storage (plastic container, plastic bag).

Before sealing the storage container, you need to leave a couple of centimeters of free space. Since a pumpkin expands in volume when it freezes, an overfilled container may burst over time.

Freezing pumpkin: tips

There are several rules that should be followed while freezing pumpkin.

Freezing pumpkin, tips:

• Beforehand, try to freeze the pieces separately a little so that they do not touch each other. This will prevent the pieces from sticking together during long-term storage. When dipping into the bag, try to get as much air out of it as possible so that there is no air remaining in the container.
• Do not fill the food storage container to the top. This will prevent the container from cracking and the products inside the containers from expanding.
• Never use the microwave to defrost pumpkin. The ideal option is to use frozen immediately. This can be easily used if the pumpkin is already ready for cooking, that is, previously blanched or boiled.
• Thus, the shavings or pieces of pumpkin are immediately thrown frozen into the dish that is being prepared. The shelf life of frozen pumpkin is approximately 10-12 months. This applies to both fresh products that were not boiled before freezing and were not subject to heat treatment, as well as products that were baked in the oven.

Baking in the oven
As you can see, freezing pumpkin allows you to preserve its beneficial properties and also extend its shelf life.
This is an ideal option if you have small children and need vitamins and minerals in winter. Pumpkin is a healthy vegetable that, even when frozen or boiled, contains a large amount of vitamins and microelements.

How to store dried pumpkin

Pumpkin, like many other foods, can be dried. In addition, storing dried pumpkin is much more convenient, because it will take up less space than fresh pumpkin.

Immediately before drying, the pumpkin must be peeled, seeds and pulp, then washed and dried on paper towels. Then the pumpkin is cut into slices, approximately 2 mm thick, and placed in an electric dryer. If it is not available, you can place the slices on a baking sheet and place them in an oven preheated to 50-60 degrees. When drying in the oven, keep the door slightly open to prevent condensation from accumulating inside.

After drying is complete, dried vegetables should be transferred to darkened containers or textile bags and then placed in a dry place. Dried pumpkin can be stored for 12-18 months .

Preparing pumpkin for freezing

All varieties of pumpkin are suitable for freezing. Try to choose a whole, elastic one, without stains or cuts. It’s great if it has a tail, then the vegetable is not spoiled.

In the kitchen to prepare for the winter you will need:

• ripe pumpkin
• big knife
• cutting board
• kitchen napkin
• freezer bags, with a clip or regular ones, ice cube trays or small silicone ones for baking
• containers

The pumpkin is washed and cut, seeds and fibers are removed. Do not rush to throw away the seeds; they are used for food after being dried in the oven.