Freezing Broccoli

This summer has been so hot that my broccoli are not producing the dense heads that I would like.  The stems start to stretch before the flower buds can grow dense enough, so I have to harvest them before the flower buds get too big or start to open.  Luckily leggy broccoli is just as tasty as dense broccoli and I don't really care what it looks like when it is all said and done.

These plants will keep producing side shoots long after the main head has been harvested.  Every few days I will trim off any florets that are large enough.  There is no way that I could hope to eat all of my broccoli fresh, so I will be storing as much as I can in the freezer.  I start by removing the big leaves from the stalks and trimming them into bite sized pieces.

From here they get a good rinsing and then they go into a boiling water bath for about three minutes or so.  Once they turn a nice bright green color I stop the blanching process by transferring them to a ice water bath where they cool right down.

After a few minutes they are cooled down completely.  I drain them for a little while before they are portioned into double servings and frozen in ziploc bags.  This is another one of those crops that I only preserve a little at a time, but those small numbers of bags will add up by the end of the season.