Blanching Vegetables Before Freezing

I think I have learned my lesson for not boiling vegetables before freezing.

Earlier this year when the broccoli and cauliflower were harvested, I opted to just cut them and store them in ZipLock freezer bags.  I read online that the proper way to preserve and freeze vegetables were to blanch them before freezing.

I have discovered why.

The other day I pulled out some broccoli and cauliflower from the freezer and placed in some plastic containers and put them in the fridge to unthaw.  I was going to just use them with some vegetable dip for a quick snack.  Today I pulled some the container out and noticed an off-smell.

Since I am a bit stubborn, I still opted to try one to see what it was like.  Pretty gross.  The broccoli and cauliflower both taste like they are spoiled and leaves a sewage-like aftertaste.

Unfortunately, we only blanched maybe one or two bags of sugar snap peas with the pods.  After freezing them, we found out that they hardened up and all stuck to one another – and they fell apart extremely easily after re-cooking.  So, after seeing this, we did not boil and of the other vegetables before freezing (except the corn).

So far we've used about two bags of peas and a few bags of green beans in dishes.  They still taste just fine without any problem.  So, it may not be necessary to blanch or boil green beans and peas before freezing – but we'll see later this year.

The odd thing is – I used some of the cauliflower in a veggie dish a few days ago – and the cauliflower tasted fine in the dish.  It was cooked up with some carrots and peas, however – so that may have helped to mask the taste.

I didn't get sick from eating the dish with the cauliflower in it that was cooked directly after they were pulled from the freezer.  So maybe it is something with wait to unthaw the cauliflower and broccoli that it seems to go bad.

Either way, there won't be any broccoli or cauliflower in the garden next year – as it takes up too much space for the amount of produce it makes.  We don't really use the broccoli or cauliflower while cooking anyways – like we do corn, green beans, peppers, and carrots.