Freezing Sprouts

Have you grown an abundance of Brussels Sprouts? Have you bought to many sprouts? Well here in this article we will help show you about freezing sprouts so that they taste delicious when you defrost them.

Love them or hate them Brussels sprouts are a popular vegetable especially at Christmas. Are you someone who tries them every year just to see if you like them or are you the one that finishes everyone else off as they don’t like them?

Brussels sprouts are extremely easy to grow in the garden as long as you protect them from pigeons. They do however take a long time to grow in the garden so you just need to be patient. Sprouts are actually a member of the cabbage family. They are like mini cabbages on a stalk. Homegrown sprouts actually taste a lot nicer than shop bought ones.

When you purchase sprouts you are better buying them on the stalk as they will taste a lot more fresher and juicy. You can even cook the stalk so you are not wasting any of the plant. However what you want to do with your sprouts either roast them, boil them or freeze them we will be showing you the freezing sprouts method in this article.

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 freeze blanched Brussels Sprouts

The way most people freeze Brussels Sprouts is to blanche them first before freezing them. Here we will provide you with the step by step process to blanching the freezing sprouts.

Weigh 1 pound of fresh sprouts
Sort out the sprouts discarding any damaged ones, remove any leaves which are turning yellow or any that do not look healthy.
If you are growing your own sprouts there will probably be insects lurking behind the leaves so they will need soaking in cold water. Leave them to soak for around 1-2 hours. Add 1 tablespoon for every gallon of water you have the sprouts soaking in. This will get the insects to leave the sprouts or any worms hiding in them,
Boil a large pan of water on a high temperature.
Sort your sprouts out into different sizes as this will make it dependent on how long you boil the sprouts for.
Add the largest sprouts to the pan these will take around 5 minutes, 4 minutes for the medium sized sprouts and 3 minutes for the small ones.
Once they have cooked you need to put them straight into a bowl of water that has got ice in – this will immediately stop the cooking process of the sprouts. You do not want them overcooked.
You can now put a piece of baking paper on a baking tray. LAy the sprouts on the baking tray so they are not touching. Dry them down by patting them with a clean towel.
Place the sprouts in the freezer for around 1 hour. This should then freeze the sprouts.
Get a freezer bag and write on it the date and that it contains frozen sprouts. Place all of the sprouts in the freezer bag and remove as much of the air as possible. You can store frozen sprouts for up to one year.
When you are ready to eat them you can boil them on a low heat on the hob for around 15 minutes until the sprouts are soft and tender to eat.

How to freeze roasted Brussels sprouts

Instead of freezing sprouts straight away you can roast them first. Capturing all the flavour of them, they will also be ready for when you want to heat them back up. Here we will tell you how to roast brussels sprouts before freezing them.

Weigh 1 pound of fresh sprouts
Sort out the sprouts discarding any damaged ones, remove any leaves which are turning yellow or any that do not look healthy.
If you are growing your own sprouts there will probably be insects lurking behind the leaves so they will need soaking in cold water. Leave them to soak for around 1-2 hours. Add 1 tablespoon for every gallon of water you have the sprouts soaking in. This will get the insects to leave the sprouts or any worms hiding in them.
Heat the oven to around 200 degrees Celsius.
Pour two tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of sprouts and roll around in the oil.
Place the sprouts on a baking tray so they are not touching.
Roast the sprouts in the oven for around 35-40 minutes.
Keep turning the sprouts while they are cooking so that it cooks them all till they are tender.
Once cooked remove the sprouts and leave to cool completely
Get a freezer bag and write the date and contents on it.
Place the roasted sprouts in the freezer bag.
They can then be frozen for up to one year.
When you are ready to eat them they can be reheated in the microwave.

We hope you have found these tips useful for freezing sprouts. Find lots more tips and advice on fruit and vegetables here

Grow your own sprouts

Why not try growing your own sprouts in the garden or allotment. They are simple and fun to grow. You can find the seeds for sale below.