Zucchini anyone?

Our family was blessed with some zucchini this week.  It was ALOT of zucchini.  It wasn't just ordinary zucchini, it was special zucchini.  It was "break out" zucchini. It was grown at the prison in their garden, but there was more then they could use, so they donated it to a church where I teach and when I left they graciously shared!  Thank you Pastor Storm!!

So, my friend Christine put her zucchini into dinner and bread right away. She is on the ball like that. I wasn't able to do that since I had a late night of work followed by making 18 cups of homemade baby food before bed. That is another story.  So, Sydney and I froze the zucchini.

All fruits and vegetables contain enzymes and bacteria that, over time, break down the destroy nutrients and change the color, flavor, and texture of food during frozen storage. Squash requires a brief heat treatment, called blanching, in boiling water or steam, to destroy the enzymes before freezing.


These were nice small tender zucchini, the kind we don't seem to get from our garden because they go from blossom to too big overnight.

First we washed it, then cut it up. We cut 1/2 inch slices to start with.

After we had enough to fill Big Bertha,

 

we dumped it into the boiling water for 3 minutes,

then removed it and put it into a bowl of ice water to cool right away. We used almost 2 bags of ice.

 

After the ice bath, it gets put back in the strainer to drain really well.  

See how it's a little darker after it has been blanched?

In the process of moving it back and forth, a few slices were lost, not completely lost, Baby Fluff found them and though they were the best treat ever.  He had already eaten a whole one earlier in the day, and continued to eat any that fell that we missed.

 

Last was to put the slices into a vacuum bag and seal them up for the freezer. 

We also did some shreds to make zucchini bread with later.

Shreds get steamed for 2 minutes in the microwave instead of the boiling water bath.

When they are all sealed they are ready for the freezer!  We have more then this, but  this was the last batch we finished.  I see lots of Harvest Chili and Zucchini Chips and Zucchini Bread in our future!