How to freeze broccoli

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I love broccoli, the problem is no one else in my family likes it with me.  I am also cheap and don’t like paying $2.49 per pound at the produce section of my grocery store nor $3.69 per pound in the frozen section.  I had a simple solution to this problem buy 3 pounds 3 lbs. ($1 a pound) of broccoli from Costco.  Though like I mentioned I love broccoli I do not love it enough to put away before it goes bad in about a week.

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The solution to this problem was quite simple, I would simply freeze 2 lbs. of broccoli to eat later.

Step 1: Cut and wash the broccoli.  Make sure the broccoli is in roughly uniform size pieces.  I simple cut these to the size I would want to eat the so I can save myself some time when it comes time to cook these later.  Given a quick rinse, I wouldn’t worry too much about getting them dry since you will be putting them in water in a few moments anyway.

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Step 2: Blanch the broccoli.  You need to blanch the broccoli to kill and of the bad bacteria, etc. before you freeze them.  You have 2 options here, you can steam them for 5 minutes or boil them for 3 minutes.  I opted for steaming so I could easily add and remove my broccoli using a metal colander.

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Just fill up your “basket” drop it into already boiling water…

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and throw a lid on and wait 5 minutes.

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Step 3: Stop cooking the broccoli.  You do not want to keep cooking the broccoli so take your now blanched broccoli and….

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dump it into a waiting ice cold water bath.

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After cooling for 2-3 minutes move into portion size Ziloc bag to enjoy later.

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Though this water appears much greener than the picture shows there is are plenty of vitamins and minerals leached into this water and would be a great start for some vegetable stock…but I was tired and dumped it down the sink…

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