Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and submerge the kale about ½”. Freezing greens is very simple. Click HERE to save this tutorial on how to freeze kale!. And only then will it repay you with a delicious salad. Frozen kale is great for smoothies, soups, stews, and casserole-type dishes. If you like frozen greens in the winter, just imagine how good it would taste if you had … Cleaning and Blanching the Kale Gather your supplies. Kale is one of the easiest veggies to get stashed in the freezer. This guide covers methods for freezing, canning, and fermenting, along with tips and recipes for using your preserved kale. Place kale leafs into the boiling water for 2-3 minutes to kill enzymes and to discontinue oxidation. Place your rinsed kale in a large pot or covered pan on the stovetop. You have to take time to prepare the kale. Here are a few recipes to try with your frozen kale (these recipes will work with frozen kale even if the recipes don’t call for frozen kale). Check out Kale in the produce section in February. If freezer space is a problem for you, then canning is also an option for preserving kale. More photos and a PDF print version coming. Whether you need to freeze kale, collard greens, spinach, a bag of mixed baby greens from the grocery store, a pile of mature greens … Kale and other hearty bunched greens, however, usually sit on an open market shelf where they are misted with water throughout the day. Begin by boiling a large pot of water on the stove. If you cut kale leaves as needed (called cut-and-come-again) new leaves will grow from the center of the plant. Here are some tips. When the water boils, toss in the kale leaves and cook until they brighten in color, 1 to 2 minutes. Try storing them in a paper bag. If you’re wondering how to prepare a kale salad the trick is to massage the leaves with olive oil so that they’re easier to chew and digest, for more on that try my Raw Kale Salad recipe.. How to freeze greens. Before storing the kale in your fridge, get two pieces of thick paper towels. Freezing raw greens. How To Preserve Spinach, Kale & Leafy Greens If you are wanting lots of nutritious vegetables to enjoy throughout the year then I definitely recommend those leafy greens. Kale is an incredibly easy vegetable to grow, it’s very nutritious, and produces tons of kale leaves on each plant. How To Prepare Kale for Salad. Wash the kale in cool, running water, rinsing any dirt or grit off the leaves. As a result, I rarely got around to doing the task at all – ... Read More about The lazy woman’s way of drying Kale … Remove the tough stems of the kale and roughly chop the leaves. If you like frozen greens in the winter, just imagine how good it would taste if you had picked a bag yourself and then quickly froze it at home! You can simply wash, chop, dry, and store fresh kale in the freezer. When the kale begins to pop up above the dirt and I start harvesting the dark leafy greens, I will (no doubt) need to find a way to preserve some of the kale for later. Season it with salt and pepper or add garlic or sweet or chile peppers for extra flavor. The process to preserve kale for long-term freezing is slightly labor-intensive, however, it will save you time and money in the future, and is well worth the extra effort. (I am sure we are the only household that does not finish […] This method allows you to remove as much or as little as you want for each recipe and is a great option for smoothies. Cut kale leaves one-by-one as needed with garden scissors or knife or cut away the whole head. In any recipe that calls for frozen spinach, I substitute frozen kale instead. Freezing greens like spinach, kale, and Swiss chard is a great way to preserve them before they go bad. So, of course, I opted for the path that gets the kale … Sauté: Stir food in … You can portion the kale and/or spinach out or just shove it all … Kale needs to be babied, coddled even. Roughly chop the leaves. Immediately transfer your kale to the ice water, which halts the cooking process, retaining the texture, color, and nutrients of the kale. This is a great way to save money and to maintain the maximum amount of nutrients in the kale leaves when preserving. This might be true if you plan to use the kale within a few weeks. The interplay of olive oil with kale on a hot skillet breaks down fibers and may help nutrients get absorbed into the … The paper soaks up extra moisture, which helps keep the chips from getting soggy. Tip #1 – If you want to store enough kale for one smoothie in a snack or sandwich-sized bag to make morning smoothie making easier, you can then store those smaller bags into one larger zip top to help preserve them in the freezer, then just pull out a … Once frozen, begin to quickly gather kale up and place in … For the easy step-by-step instructions, pop down to the end of this post. Kale tends to get more and more bitter the longer it is left at room temperature, so keep it cool, sucka’! However, if you’re freezing for longer than that (and you probably are), I highly recommend you blanch the kale before freezing. The pre-portioned size depends on what you want to use the frozen kale for, but usually amounts ranging from 1/2 cup to 1 cup are ideal in our kitchen. How to Store Kale. Dry the kale using towels or a salad spinner—moisture left on the kale leaves can lead to freezer burn. My family loves a good kimchi on ramen or as a side with chicken and rice. (Here’s a blog post where I share how to make a massaged kale salad.) Pour the juice into ice cube trays and freeze. Whether your own harvest of kale has … Can You Freeze Kale… Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and add Kale … You can now buy dried kale and kale chips in tiny 60-gram packages for $7 at the organic market. Wilt: Stir food in a small amount of water or oil for a short time to soften it. It's also a great method when you want to cook a variety of greens; Cook delicate greens like spinach a little less than kale or chard. of pressure if canning above 2,000 feet altitude. I would not recommend canned kale for smoothies, but it does work well in soups, stews, and casserole type dishes. This means I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Too much kale? Kale was also traditionally preserved with salt and left to ferment. Keep the kale refrigerated at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, but don't let it freeze, to ensure the best texture and flavor qualities when you later cook and serve it. Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Place it in the freezer for one to two hours, until the greens have frozen partially. Space the balls of kale, chard, etc., out evenly on a sheet pan, maintaining their shape but not allowing them to touch. Start with fresh Kale…rinse well to get the sand out and spin dry. Add kale to boiling water. Now, since kale bunches tend to be rather large, that is not always possible. When the kale leaves have cooled, dry them by using a salad spinner, or by rolling the kale up in a towel and squeezing to remove excess water. Like collards, but unlike the other, single-forming sisters, it has leaves that can be almost continuously harvested. Grow, and casserole-type dishes blanching process is the same to grow, grow! 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