Spinach is extremely tasty and also very healthy. But since it can't be stored for so long, we'll explain how to freeze spinach and make it last longer.
Freeze fresh spinach: Here's how
Fresh spinach only lasts about two days in the refrigerator, so you can make it last longer by freezing it if you bought too much of the vegetable or don't want to use it right away. Proceed as follows:
- Before you can freeze the spinach, you should first wash it thoroughly, sort out wilted leaves, and cut off the stems. These taste bitter and are relatively hard so they would reduce the pleasure.
- The next step is to blanch the spinach so that it retains its color and most of its nutrients. To do this, boil water and put the spinach in a strainer for one minute. Then immediately rinse the vegetables in ice water. Alternatively, you can use a ladle.
- Drain the leaves well and, if necessary, dry them with a salad spinner or dab them with kitchen paper. The spinach must be completely dry so that no ice crystals form during freezing and the food is watered down later.
- Now you can put the spinach leaves into a freezer-safe container - if you like, you can also chop them in advance and freeze them in portions in ice cube molds, for example.
Freezing cooked spinach
You can also freeze spinach that has already been cooked, but there are a few things you should keep in mind. If the food is stored at room temperature for too long, the nitrate contained in the spinach can turn into nitrite. Nitrite is a harmful substance that can inhibit oxygen transport in the blood - babies and small children should therefore not eat reheated spinach.
If you want to freeze cooked spinach, pay attention to the following points:
- The food should be cooled quickly, preferably in the refrigerator or in a cold water bath.
- Then immediately freeze the spinach in an airtight container in the freezer.
- Defrost the vegetables in the refrigerator and prepare them quickly. Even better, add the frozen spinach directly to the pot without defrosting, for example as an ingredient in a curry.
- If you want to reheat the spinach, it should be heated to above 70 degrees Celsius for at least two minutes.
- The vegetable should not be reheated a second time.