Is salad frozen for the winter?

Tender and fragile lettuce leaves can be frozen for the winter and stored in the freezer, but you will need to be careful and know a couple of tricks.

Salad leaves in the freezer

Only fresh lettuce leaves with strong veins are selected for freezing. Withered, wrinkled and deformed will not suit us. The leaf color is soft green, not yellow or spotted.

Advice
It is important to wash the lettuce before freezing, as it will not be possible to do so once it has thawed. Whatever one may say, the lettuce leaf withers a little after defrosting and loses its elasticity.

How to freeze fresh lettuce:

1. Remove excess roots, rinse the greens in running water.
2. Shake the leaves to remove any excess droplets. Spread everything out in an even layer and blot with napkins. Moisture should remain at a minimum, otherwise the salad will not last long.
3. It is better to dry the leaves faster: after being cut from the garden, they quickly wither.
4. Prepare in advance convenient containers with lids, plastic trays, and ziplock bags. Even cling film will do, as long as the packaging is durable and does not allow odors to pass through.
5. Make portions convenient for one-time use. Leaf lettuce cannot be defrosted again; after removing it from the chamber, it must be used immediately.
6. When placing a serving of greens in a bag or container, try to remove as much air as possible.
7. Hide the bags in the freezer. If this is provided in your equipment, set the temperature below the standard -18 degrees.
8. The shelf life of fresh green leaves in sealed packaging is up to 1 year. Try to sell the salad faster, as it loses vitamins from long-term storage.
9. When removed, such a salad will no longer be delicate like a fresh one, but it will retain its taste and nutrients. Add leaves to vegetable mixtures, green smoothies, appetizers, sandwiches, soups, omelettes and toppings.

Advice
The magazine purity-en.htgetrid.com strongly discourages cutting off the roots and chopping the lettuce leaf with a knife. The metal causes the juice to oxidize, the edges of the lettuce leaf darken and look untidy. Chop the salad only with your hands - just tear it into manageable pieces.

Salad with oil dressing

The oil helps preserve the rich green color of the lettuce leaf, and also preserves vitamins and delicate taste. Preparations with oil are convenient for decorating salads, side dishes, meat and fish dishes. Use the usual leafy variety, lollo rosso, cress, etc.

How to freeze lettuce with butter, recipe:

1. Wash, shake the leaves from any drops and finely tear everything with your hands.
2. You can grind the greens into a paste using a blender, then you will get a homogeneous green sauce.
3. Melt the butter so that it does not boil or burn.
4. Place salad puree or leaves among ice containers. Fill with oil so that it does not reach the edge of the mold.
5. Vegetable oils are also suitable: olive, corn, sunflower.
6. Freeze the ice tray, and when all the compartments are frozen, squeeze out the cubes and put them in a common bag.
7. Return the bag to the freezer. The dressing with salad and oil is ready, use it within six months.

Small frozen cubes can be made without an oil additive.Simply mash the greens or puree them in a blender, then distribute into the molds. There is no need to defrost the lettuce leaf gradually: it will quickly thaw in the finished dish.

Freezing somewhat spoils the appearance of the lettuce leaf, but allows you to enjoy healthy greens with a summer taste all winter. A few simple rules will help preserve all the main advantages of the salad.