Freeze Fresh: The Ultimate Guide (Review)

 

Title: Freeze Fresh: The Ultimate Guide to Preserving 55 Fruits and Vegetables 🌽 🌶 for Maximum Flavor and Versatility

Author: Crystal Schmidt

Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC

Publication date: July 5, 2022

Review: 

This is a beautifully laid out, informative "ultimate guide" for farmers, home gardeners, and anyone with trees in their yard that give you a bounty of avocados, mango, lychee, or in our case guava, calamansi and tangerines. There are also great tips on freezers, organization and recipes that let you use the frozen fruits and vegetables. 

If this is how I lived now, instead of in an apartment with an over the refrigerator freezer, this is definitely worth trying. I love this lifestyle of growing food, giving away or preserving the food by canning, dehydrating or now fresh freezing. It is the Mother Earth lifestyle that I have always dreamed of. But then the plethora of insects in Hawaii paired with my very skillful knack at killing plants, as well as the whole empty nest stage of my life means that the reality is not the dream. Still, I like to look at the pictures. I like to look at the recipes. I like to imagine someone I know finding peace in the process of preserving their rhubarb and zoodles for a different season. This book will help you fulfill that dream. For me, it is just wishful wandering into a different world. 

From the Publisher:

Capturing the peak flavor of freshly harvested produce and preserving it for year-round eating is easier than ever with Freeze Fresh, the ultimate guide to freezing and enjoying more than 55 popular fruits and vegetables. Author Crystal Schmidt shares her time-tested preparation techniques that ensure color, texture, and flavor are retained in the freezer. From familiar favorites like apples, corn, potatoes, and peas to surprises like lettuce, avocado, and citrus fruit, Schmidt details the best ways to prepare each food for the freezer, including pre-cooking, slicing, blanching, and more. She offers more than 100 recipes that freeze well, such as Blueberry Maple Pancake Sauce, Pickled Sliced Beets, Mango Chutney, and Honey Butter Carrot Mash--as well as delicious ways to cook the frozen food after thawing, including Creamy Parmesan Confetti Corn, Tart Cherry Oatmeal Bars, Broccoli Cheese Soup, and Blueberry-Matcha Latte Smoothie. Home cooks and gardeners alike will love discovering how easy and economical it can be to fill your freezer with produce customized to your own tastes and needs.