Spinach is a product whose taste many do not understand. This vegetable has recently entered our diet, but almost all culinary specialists liked it. This product is well suited as a side dish, base for first courses, scrambled eggs, sauces. In addition, it has a bright green color, so it helps to acquire unusual color solutions for many dishes. Therefore, the question of how to harvest spinach for the winter is relevant today. Consider several methods that will help to preserve all the taste and healthy qualities of this product.
Beneficial features
This vegetable contains a lot of protein and fiber. It is also rich in various nutrients and vitamins, which tend to be destroyed much less when cooked than in other vegetables. Many housewives are therefore interested in whether it is possible to harvest spinach for the winter .
Many housewives use spinach in cooking all year round. It is used in a variety of diets, even therapeutic ones. The product has a low calorie content and a large percentage of carotene and iodine, so it is well suited for feeding children. Moreover, scientists have proved that eating spinach helps rid the body of toxins and wastes. But it must be remembered that this vegetable also contains oxalic acid, which in large quantities negatively affects the body. But regular use of it in small doses helps to strengthen all systems of the human body. Therefore, doctors recommend including this vegetable in the diet, which will help maintain health for a long time.
Freezing
Many women know how to harvest spinach for the winter. Freezing in this case is most popular. This method is quite simple and fast, the vegetable remains almost fresh. To freeze spinach, it is necessary to rinse its leaves well, then cut the cuttings. Washed leaves are laid out on a towel so that they dry out. Next, dry spinach leaves are twisted into tubes and wrapped in cling film, put in a freezer in the compartment for quick freezing, if any. Now we know how to prepare spinach for the winter, freezing in this case is a rather convenient method. Small pieces are cut from frozen vegetables during cooking. Place the cut wrap with foil for further storage.
Fancy cubes
This method is a little time-consuming, but quite effective, since it involves freezing a vegetable with ice. Before preparing spinach for the winter , it is recommended to rinse the vegetable, cut off all unnecessary and dry the leaves. Dry leaves are cut into small pieces, laid in ice molds and filled with cold boiled water. The form is placed in the freezer in the storage department for a long period of time. These interesting cubes can be put with various first courses, sauces or stews. If pasta is supposed to be prepared, then butter is poured into the molds instead of water, which is pre-melted and cooled.
How to prepare spinach for the winter: recipes for sauces
Spinach is great for making a variety of sauces. Most importantly, you can not re-freeze the vegetable, as it loses all its nutritional properties. To prepare this leafy vegetable for the winter, you need to wash it, cut off everything that is unnecessary, put it in a blender or food processor and grind everything well until a puree-like consistency is obtained. The resulting mass is put in ice molds and poured with butter, previously melted and cooled. Forms are sent to the freezer for further storage. To prepare sauces, frozen spinach is put in a dish a few minutes before the end of cooking.
Freezing spinach for soups
This method is well suited for those housewives who try to save time for cooking the first dishes. Before you prepare the spinach for the winter , you need to prepare it. For this, the leaves of the vegetable are washed and dried, cuttings are cut and cut in the form of noodles. Then the vegetable is boiled in water in a small amount and cooled. Containers for storing vegetables are poured with broth with greens, covered with lids and sent to the freezer. In order to prepare the first dish in the winter, it remains only to boil the necessary vegetables and add a pre-frozen spinach broth.
Frozen Mashed Spinach and Arugula
If there is enough space in the refrigerator, the hostesses can prepare mashed potatoes made from boiled arugula and spinach for the winter, which can then be added to different dishes. Before preparing spinach and arugula for the winter , leafy vegetables are washed and cut off all unnecessary, then they are dried on a towel. Leaves are finely chopped and boiled for about five minutes in salted water. Then the vegetables are thrown into a colander and allowed to drain water. Boiled greens are crushed in a blender until puree. The cooked puree is boiled until it thickens. The mass is sent to banks, covered with lids and put in the refrigerator.
Pickling
To be able to use greens in their winter diet, it is often salted and canned. Before you properly prepare the spinach for the winter using salting, you need, as in previous cases, rinse and dry it, cut the cuttings. Leaves are torn in small pieces, laid out in banks in layers, each of which is sprinkled with salt. The layers should be medium in thickness and densely packed. Salts take about ten percent of the weight of spinach. Salted vegetables should be stored in the refrigerator, making sure that mold does not appear on the surface. You can also salt the spinach with other herbs, such as parsley or dill. Before consuming a salted vegetable, it is washed. Put spinach a few minutes before the dish is cooked.
Canning
Spinach harvested by this method can be stored for quite some time.
Ingredients : one kilogram of spinach, one liter of water, two tablespoons of table salt.
Cooking
Before you prepare the spinach for the winter , you need to rinse it, remove the cuttings and dry. Then the vegetable is blanched for five minutes in very hot, but not boiling water. Leaves are discarded in a colander to water glass. Next, the greens are tightly laid out in sterile jars, the excess liquid is drained. Then a brine is prepared from water and salt. Salt is put in boiling water and boiled for about two minutes. This brine is filled with jars of herbs and tightly clog or roll up the lids.
Spinach with onion and parsley
Ingredients : one and a half kilograms of spinach, six hundred grams of water, three hundred grams of onion greens, twenty grams of salt, twenty grams of parsley and dill.
Cooking
All greens are thoroughly washed and all excess is removed. All greens, except spinach, are finely chopped, spinach is cut in the shape of a noodle. All the greens are put in a pan, salt and add water. Cook for ten minutes. The finished mixture is laid out in jars and sterilized in a half-liter container for twenty-five minutes, then rolled up with lids and cooled.
Drying
You can harvest spinach for the winter by drying it. This is most often done if there is no free space in the refrigerator for freezing or storage. So, the leaves of the vegetable are washed, dried and laid out on clean paper in a warm room so that direct sunlight does not fall on them. You can use an electric dryer for this purpose. In this way, the vegetable is dried for about three hours at a temperature of thirty-five degrees Celsius. Dry leaves are stacked in glass jars, covered with a nylon cover and put in a dark place. Dried leafy vegetables are good for preparing first courses.
Now we know how to harvest spinach for the winter . These processes are time-consuming and simple, they do not take much time, and the result is excellent. Harvested vegetables will help to color the winter diet with bright summer colors.
Finally ...
Spinach is one of the most healthy foods in the world. Doctors recommend using it to all people who want to prolong their youth and life. In summer, spinach is fairly easy to purchase, but what to do in winter? To do this, all housewives are advised to stock up on this leafy vegetable using the above methods. It’s good to use tasty and healthy spinach for preparing first and second courses, appetizers and sauces. This vegetable has a huge amount of useful elements and vitamins. Therefore, it is considered one of the effective products that resist the formation of malignant tumors and aging. Spinach regulates the functioning of all systems in the body, including the activity of the brain. Therefore, it is recommended to regularly use it in small quantities.