Introduction: Freeze Garden Greens in Ice-cube Trays

By
About: Everything I make is done with love and imperfection.

As a first time gardener, I didn't know what to expect of greens grown under the midnight sun.... so I overplanted my garden.

Now I'm struggling to keep up with the bounty!

I researched a few different techniques for preserving garden veggies: like this article and this one and this one.

But I came up with this method to create garden green pucks - similar to how spinach is sold in those frozen bags- out of experimentation.

Step 1: Harvest

I was focused on my greens, because the other veggies I'm growing will keep much longer.

I wanted to use up my KALE, BEET TOPS, and SWISS CHARD - but whatever you have in abundance will be delicious.

Step 2: Prepare Greens

  1. Wash greens (photo 1)
  2. Chop (photo 2)
  3. Most of the articles I read recommended blanching before freezing.
    1. Prepare a large pot of boiling water.
    2. Place your greens in a strainer.
    3. Dip them into the boiling water (some websites recommend 2-3 minutes... but I did about 30 seconds to 1 minute)
    4. Repeat until all of your greens are blanched.
  4. Rinse the greens with cold water to stop the cooking process (photo 4).
    I left the greens to sit in the sink to drain off excess water while I did the next step, turning from time to time.
  5. I chopped up fresh garlic and grated ginger because I love garlic and ginger. Miss this step if you don't, or use other flavours (photo 5)
  6. Mix the garlic and ginger with the greens (photo 6)

Step 3: Freeze

  1. Grease ice-cube trays with a small amount of coconut oil (photo 1). This makes sure that the greens will pop out of the trays without falling apart.
  2. Fill the trays with your greens mixture, making sure to press them in quite firmly (photo 2)
  3. Freeze until frozen - approximately 3 hours.

Step 4: Package

Once frozen, you can place all of the pucks in freezer-safe ziplock bag.

I'm looking forward to enjoying my garden greens all winter long! I'm planning to do a few more batches as this was such an easy process and worked so well.

Add these pucks to stir-fry's, soups, etc.