Detailed Guide: Can you Vacuum Seal Vegetables Without Blanching?

To enjoy the relish and flavor of seasonal vegetables throughout the year, a common practice is to vacuum seal your vegetables. You might be using blanching, a common method of preserving fruit and vegetables. It’s believed that blanched vegetables often get wilted. To protect your leafy vegetables like spinach, lettuce, and kale from wilting, you should opt for other means of storing vegetables.

In this blog, we will discuss what blanching is and how can you vacuum seal your vegetables without blanching.

What is Blanching?

Blanching is a process in which vegetables are boiled first before frosting them. There will be no benefit to lock the flavor and nutrients of boiled spinach and lettuce in the freezer because they will get wilted. It depicts that blanching is not suitable to vacuum seal every vegetable. Vacuum seal your vegetables without blanching to keep them as fresh as they are for months.

Can you Vacuum Seal Vegetables Without Blanching?

Yes, it’s possible to vacuum seal vegetables without using a blanching technique. Instead of a time-consuming blanching process, there is a way to preserve vegetables in less time. Here are some steps that you need to follow to lock your vegetable nutrients for months without blanching:

Step # 1: Wash Vegetables With Clean Water

The very first step you need to do while vacuum-sealing vegetables are washing them with tap water or distilled water. After removing all the dirt, and germs from your vegetables, pat a dry towel on all the vegetables to make them dry. Leave them in the air for some time to eliminate moisture from vegetables’ skin.

Step # 2: Chop your Washed Vegetables

Cut dried vegetables into about 1.3 cm small pieces if required. There is no need to chop small-sized vegetables like peas. It’s better to use a cutting board for cutting vegetable pieces. You must keep your fingers wrapped under your hand in such a way that knuckles should face the knife. This will keep you safe from injury.

Step #03: Place your Vegetables in Plastic Bags

You should choose plastic bags that can be sealed for your convenience. Start placing your vegetables into the bags. Make small portions of the size of one serving. It will be convenient for you to pick out one bag and cook rather than storing the remaining half. The use of plastic bags is very important to keep the vegetables safe from clumping. Feel free to use parchment paper or baking paper to make linings or portions of vegetables in one bag.

Step #04: Roll your Plastic Bags

This step is necessary to remove all the air as it can affect our freezing process.  For rolling, you must keep your bag unsealed so that all the air can be moved out. A vacuum sealer can also be used to remove air. But another alternative to vacuum seal your bag is using a straw to suck the air out of it.

Step #05: Label your Plastic Bags

Label each of your plastic bags with the contents and date by using permanent markers. A permanent market is preferred as normal ink can be removed easily with little moisture. Labeling is very important because some vegetables can only be stored for 3 months while others for 8 months. And you will get an idea about the timing of frosted vegetables.

Step #06: Frost your Vegetables

Transfer your plastic bags containing vegetables immediately to the freezer. After frosting at a very low temperature in the freezer, they will be preserved. Defrost these stored vegetables only when you are going to cook.

Particular Conditions of Vacuum Sealing for Every Vegetable

Different conditions apply to frost in every kind of vegetable. Here I am going to give you some useful tips to freeze your vegetables to have a healthy meal every time you use your frozen vegetables without blanching.

• Cauliflower

To freeze cauliflower, you must remove the leaves and vegetables. After that, chop it into 3cm pieces. Cool the pieces in an ice bath. Then, make a thin layer of chopped cauliflower in the freezer bag and freeze your vegetables.

• Corn

You can frost whole corn if you want. But it is more convenient by freezing it off the cob. For freezing, you must choose the freshest pieces of corn.

1. First, remove the silk and ears of corn.
2.  After that, remove the kernels by using a sharp knife.
3. Start placing the corn cobs into the plastic bags and roll them upward to remove the air out.
4. Date your airtight bad with a permanent marker
5. Place it in the freezer.

And then you can have your frozen corn without blanching.

• Bell peppers

Freezing bell peppers is very simple. All you have to do is to remove its seed. Then cut it into slices of 3 cm. Keep them in a single layer in a freezing bag. Label it and place it in the freezer. Enjoy your frozen bell peppers.

• Potatoes

There is a very high water content in the potatoes even when they are cooked. That’s why I’ll recommend you to freeze only waxy potatoes. I recommend you freeze Yukon gold and red potatoes.

Further, you should par-cook your potatoes either by baking them at 475°F in the oven, frying them in oil, or by boiling them for five minutes.

• Winter squash

The winter season is ahead and you must have a plan to freeze the winter squash. You must be fed up with the unpalatable taste of frozen vegetables. Here I am going to tell you an amazing tip to get rid of this taste. Firstly chop, then slightly cook your butternut and other winter squash in a pressure cooker or oven. Cool them and then put them in plastic bags. Then freeze them. Then you will have an amazing taste of frozen vegetables.

We hope that we have answered your query about “can you vacuum seal vegetables without balancing”. Make your kitchen full of different vegetables and fruits by vacuum-sealing them. Opt for the above convenient non-blanching means of storing vegetables for a long time. Enjoy healthy eating!