If you have an abundance of asparagus in your garden this year, or perhaps you got a steal of a deal at the farmers market, or perhaps you are just stocking up for winter.
Locally grown asparagus can be found in Season West Coast Vegetable season.
Locally grown fresh asparagus season in Ontario Vegetable season
Avoid purchasing asparagus imported from other countries due to the flavour texture will not be the same as fresh asparagus that is locally grown.
Can you freeze asparagus?
Asparagus is a nice treat from the freezer during the winter months when you can’t get it fresh. If you learn how to freeze asparagus, you can eat it as a side dish in the winter or make a winter soup. Soon you will wonder why you didn’t freeze it before.
How to Freeze fresh Asparagus
Items Needed to blanch asparagus
- Large Pot for boiling water
- Large container for cold water
- Fresh Asparagus
- Freezer bags
- ice cubes
- knife
- Strainer
Blanche: Boiling Water Method
Trim the “woody” end of the asparagus off. This part of asparagus spears is tough to chew. If you happen to forget to trim it before you cook it, you won’t be happy with how it turns out. You will easily see the difference between this part of the spear and the part you want to keep. You will see a difference in flavour and texture.
Blanched Asparagus
Blanching is an important part of the process because it kills the enzymes and bacteria on the asparagus. Freezing the asparagus is not enough to kill these off. You aren’t going to cook the asparagus, though.
Make ice cubes for Ice water ahead of time to put in with your cold water.
Bring a large pot of boiling water. Drop the asparagus in the boiling water for at least 2 minutes for a small batch, 3 for a medium one, and 4 for a large one. Immediately remove and drain the asparagus. Cool it by dropping it in ice water for the same amount of time you blanched it for. So if you blanched it for 2 minutes, cool it for 2 minutes in the cold water bath.
Freezing Asparagus
One reason that learning how to freeze asparagus is so easy is that you don’t need to chop it up or add anything. Place the asparagus flat in the freezer bags. It’s best if the bag is labelled, and always label the date, so you know when to avoid freezer burn by not keeping it for more than 12 months. If you have invested in a Food Vacuum, now is a great time to use it for the frozen asparagus to last up to 3 years sealed.
You also want to put only enough in the bag to be a useful serving size. You don’t want to put too much in because you may end up making it go to waste when you cook it.
If you plan to make soup with it, you can chop it into smaller pieces before you freeze it. If you want to conserve food, you can use it as a side dish and then use the leftovers for soup. In that case, you don’t want to chop it up before you freeze it. You can always cut it up when you thaw it out anyhow. Freezing it whole leaves you with more options when you do thaw it out.
frozen asparagus Tips
You’ve gone to all the trouble of freezing your asparagus to preserve the fresh flavour and texture, Don’t ruin it by thawing it out in the microwave. Try to plan. Get your asparagus out of the freezer the night before you plan to cook it. It should have more than enough time to thaw out overnight. It goes here!
My Favourite Asparagus Recipes are found below!
