Freezing Parsnips – How to guide

Welcome to the world of preserving the earthy sweetness of parsnips through freezing! If you’ve found yourself with an abundance of these delightful root vegetables and want to extend their freshness, you’re in the right place. In this comprehensive guide on freezing parsnips, we’ll walk you through the simple steps to ensure that you can enjoy the flavors of these winter treasures throughout the year.

Parsnips, with their sweet and nutty taste, are not only delicious when fresh but can also be a fantastic addition to your meals when preserved properly. Whether you’ve harvested a bumper crop from your garden or stumbled upon a great deal at the market, freezing parsnips is a convenient way to keep them at your culinary disposal whenever the craving strikes.

Join us as we delve into the art of freezing parsnips, exploring the best practices, essential tips, and creative ways to incorporate these frozen gems into your favorite dishes. Let’s embark on a journey to preserve the goodness of parsnips, ensuring you have a steady supply of these versatile roots whenever you need them.

Have you grown too many parsnips to store in the pantry? Not got enough room to store them? Well rather than letting the parsnips rot and go off you could start by freezing them. Freezing parsnips is is quick simple and easy to do. Plus you won’t be wasting vegetables especially if you have grown them yourself.

If you freeze your parsnips you can then end up storing them for months as they will not go off in the freezer. Give the parsnips a good scrub down, peel them then finally blanch them before you decide to put them in the freezer.

Do you want to learn how to grow parsnips? Find out here.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

How to wash, blanch and freeze parsnips.

Here you can a find a step by step plan of washing, blanching and freezing your parsnips:-

1. Place your parsnips in a bowl of water for one hour to soak. This will help remove any muck on the parsnips.
2. Wash your parsnips under a cold tap, to get all the rest of the dirt off scrub them with a nailbrush. This will get into all the groves of the parsnip and get the dirt out. Don’t use a nail brush you have used on yourself.
3. Use a peeler rather than a knife to peel the parsnips as you don’t want to end up cutting chunks out of them. A peeler will just take the skin off them
4. Either using vegetable dicer or a knife chop the parsnip into 2-3cm chunks.

You can follow the next steps on how to blanch the parsnips ready for freezing them.

1. Boil a pan of water on the oven.
2. Once the water is boiling you can gently place in your parsnip cubes.
3. Your parsnips will take around 2-3 minutes to blanch if you have cut them to 2-3cm.
4. Place the parsnip cubes straight into a bowl of ice-cold water – add a few ice cubes to the water to get it colder.
5. This will stop the parsnips from cooking straight away.
6. You can now place your parsnip cubes on a clean towel or kitchen roll and pat them down, leave until they have dried out
7. To freeze the parsnips put them in a vacuum-sealed food bag – write the date on the bag with a sharpie so you know when you put them in the freezer. These will last around 13 months.
8. If you put them straight into the freezer bag they will all freeze as a clump. If you want to freeze them individually put some greaseproof paper on a baking tray and lay them on that then freeze.
9. Once they have frozen on the baking tray you can put the pieces in the bag and seal.
10. When you are ready to use the parsnips you can get the bag out of the freezer and let it just defrost at room temperature.

Conclusion

As we conclude this guide on freezing parsnips, we hope you’ve gained valuable insights into preserving the rich flavors of this versatile root vegetable. Freezing parsnips is not just a practical way to prevent waste; it’s a culinary investment that allows you to enjoy the delightful taste of parsnips in a myriad of dishes throughout the year.

By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ve learned how to maintain the quality, texture, and nutritional benefits of parsnips, ensuring they remain a delicious addition to your meals even after being frozen. Whether you choose to add them to soups, stews, roasts, or side dishes, your frozen parsnips will bring a touch of earthy sweetness to your culinary creations.

So, the next time you find yourself with an abundance of parsnips, don’t hesitate to freeze them and savor the taste of this winter gem whenever your taste buds desire. Happy freezing, and may your future meals be filled with the wholesome goodness of preserved parsnips!

You can find more tips and advice here for fruit and vegetables.