Do you love cabbage, but always end up throwing away some because you can’t use it all before it goes bad? Or do you have a surplus of cabbage from your garden or a great deal at the store?
Freezing cabbage is an easy and convenient way to preserve this nutritious vegetable so that you can enjoy it all year round. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the process of freezing cabbage step by step, and provide you with some helpful tips and tricks along the way and talk about the different types of cabbage as well.
With our simple instructions and advice, you’ll be able to freeze your cabbage with confidence, and make sure that you always have a healthy and delicious ingredient on hand. So, let’s get started and learn how to freeze cabbage.
Can I Freeze Cabbage? Yes, you can freeze cabbage for later use. Cabbage can be kept in the refrigerator for 2 months and in the freezer for a year. Before freezing cabbage, we recommend that it be blanched to keep the best taste.
What Are The Different Types of Cabbage?
1. Green Cabbage
You should be very familiar with green cabbages already, but do you know which are the best ones in the store?
First, you must follow this rule of thumb at all costs: Fresh cabbage is equivalent to fresh color.
Therefore, bear in mind that targeting the cabbages that look greener are your best bet to getting a fresh cabbage.
Sort them out one by one and go with the one that feels heavy in your hands. Moreover, the stem of the cabbage should be firm with only a few loose leaves.
What about the taste? Raw green cabbages’ flavor is a somewhat balance of rubbery and peppery but also tasty!
2. Red or Purple Cabbage
Looks familiar? Red cabbage is the highlight of your traditional salad. The best thing is, if stored in the right condition, frozen red cabbage can last up to a year.
Still, as pretty as it might look, the bright shade of red cabbage can be a hassle every so often. If you add it in the same pot with other ingredients, its color is likely to get on them and recolor your entire meal.
Moreover, the color of red cabbages can change to blue when they are cooked with alkaline food like tofu and nuts.
Still, don’t let that get to you. The flavor of your meal will stay the same, as the cabbages only change its look.
But if you spend hours working on your meal and do not want It’s overall aesthetic to be ruined, simply add one teaspoon of an acidic agent such as wine or vinegar and the original color will return.
3. Savoy Cabbage
Savoy Cabbage is considered the sweetest and most tender cabbage – the star of its varieties, to be exact.
It is also the best candidate for meals with substantial cooking time, so if you intend to freeze it for stuffed cabbage, go for this green!
But here is a sad little fact. Savoy cabbage is seasonal, so you cannot expect to find it all year round. Well, more reasons to store and freeze it, right?
4. Napa Cabbage
Napa cabbages are one of the veggies that show up in nearly every meal of East Asian families.
And this is why freezing this green is of paramount importance, it cannot handle the scorching heat of the areas.
Napa cabbage is also called Chinese Cabbage and is mostly used in Chinese recipes, you can find it in steamed buns and dumplings.It can as well be a flavorsome addition to fried rice if you’re a rice and cabbage guy.
How To Freeze Cabbage For Storage (With Blanching Method)
Preparation:
You will never be able to properly freeze your cabbages without proper preparation.
So, before getting down to business, let’s get to know all the things that the freezing process requires:
You will never be able to properly freeze your cabbages without proper preparation. So, before getting down to business, let’s get to know all the things that the process requires:
- Salt
- Water
- A knife
- Freezer bags or an airtight container (the number varies according to how many cabbages you use per meal)
- A saucepan
Got everything you need? Great! Let’s get to work then. We’ll show you the great way how to freeze cabbage, as well as how to store cabbage for long-term use.
Freezing and storing cabbages saves you from the hassle of having to tear apart the whole market to find one after the cabbage season is gone and yet your cooking recipes happen to demand them.
Besides, when you buy cabbages in the right season, not only will they be fresher and give a better taste, but they will also be as cheap as they can get.
Here is the best way to store both raw and cooked cabbages.
Step by step instruction (with blanching method)
1/ Handle the raw cabbage
The first thing you should do before freezing raw cabbage is to cut the cabbage heads into quarters. You can keep the whole leaves from freezing, but we highly recommend cutting them into small parts to easily store them.
Polish your knife to get a nice, clean-cut.
Usually, we would remove the single layer of outer leaves before doing so, but it is entirely up to your preferences. Still, if there are any coarse outer leaves (yellowish leaves), you should take them out.
But before getting your hands on that, make sure you rinse the greens properly. You would not want anything (a tiny little worm, for example) hiding in those leaves to show up on your plate, would you?
To wash cabbage, you’ll only need to add 1 to 3 tablespoons of salt into a gallon of cold water.
Then, submerge the wedges of cabbage you just cut in there, and any bugs or insects should come out in about half an hour.
2/ Freezing process:
Step 1: Boiling water (using your saucepan, not your regular pot). Gas stoves are quite picky when it comes to pans.
So if you own one, you should consider picking up some of the best pots and pans, they can stand high temperature and last in long use.
Step 2: After the water starts bubbling, add the cabbage wedges in there. Hot water will eliminate the bacteria and stop enzyme actions for better results.
Remember that the middle part of the cabbage should be at the bottom of the saucepan. That way, the water can get right into the core.
Step 3: While waiting for the cabbages to be blanched, you can prepare the ice water. The whole blanching process should be done in 2 minutes.
After that, take your greens out and let them cool down in the ice water mentioned above.
Step 4: While waiting for the cabbages to be blanched, you can prepare the ice water. The whole blanching process should be done in 2 minutes.
After that, take your greens out and let them cool down in the ice water mentioned above.
Step 5: Putting parboiled cabbage wedges into ice water right after removing them from the stove helps to immediately stop the cooking process and make sure that they’re not overcooked.
Only let the greens stay in the water for around 5-10 minutes, then drain the wedges using a colander and let them completely dry.
Step 6: The next thing you should do is put those wedges into the prepared freeze bags. One bag should only hold the amount of cabbage that you can finish in one go.
If you keep on unzipping it to get the veggies, air can get in and ruin your greens. By storing cabbages this way, you will never have to deal with the nightmare of separating blocks of frozen cabbage leaves.
Step 7: Place them in the freezer, and that’s it, we’re done! See? Quick and easy, isn’t it? You don’t need to be an expert on ‘how to store cabbage in fridges’ to nail this.
See the video for more detailed instructions:
How To Thaw Frozen Cabbage
We all know the thrill of waiting for food to be defrosted in the microwave with a starving stomach.
Well, here’s the deal: rushing the thawing process with a microwave might leave you with soggy cabbages that have a mushy texture.
What that means is, you should avoid defrosting cabbage in any way that involves heat higher than room temperature – that includes microwave and hot water.
So, what’s the secret? We’ll tell you right now!
Instructions:
In addition to that, if you’re only using frozen cabbages for soups or so, there’s no need to think much, simply put shredded pieces of them into your delicious hot boiling pot of soup. It’s that simple.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can you freeze cooked cabbage?
Wait, can you freeze cooked cabbage? Surprisingly, yes! The process is different from raw cabbage storage, but it is entirely possible.
We will walk you through the process step by step. Here are the best ways to store some cabbage included dishes.
Cabbage Soup (familiar side dish)
As strange as this might sound, it is possible to freeze soup with cabbage ingredients.
But first, you’ll need rigid plastic containers with airtight lids. We get that zip lock bags are more familiar to us all, but ladling liquid soups into flimsy plastic bags doesn’t sound like a good idea, does it? In any case, you can risk spilling it.
Also, when ladling cabbage soup into containers, you should refrain from filling it to the brim. The soup will expand when it’s frozen, so you should leave a little space before closing the lid.
When you’re done with that, the containers are ready to go into the freezer. And that’s all for freezing cabbage soup!
Cabbage Rolls
To keep the rolls from going soggy after being defrosted, some are prepping you’ll need to go through before tossing this delicious dish into the freezer.
For starters, you should put the cabbage rolls into the fridge so they can gradually adjust to the lower temperature. Let them chill in there for a few hours, then take them out and place them into a freezer-friendly container.
At this point, you can pop them into the freezer for storing.
Here’s a tip from us: if you only have a few cabbage rolls left from your batch, try to freeze the cabbage leaves separately. So when you take them out for use later, it’s easier to put them on the plates.
Fried Cabbage
If you can, try not to fry cabbages thoroughly. By doing this, the cabbage pieces will be able to keep the crisp, and you can enjoy crunchy bites after you thaw the dish.
Similar to cabbage rolls, you’ll need to leave the fried cabbages in the fridge for a few hours in the first phase.
Now, take out your zip lock bags again and spoon them in. The next task is to squeeze the air out of those bags, this is how you maintain the crispiness of the greens.
Again, keep in mind that you should put just enough cabbage for one meal into each bag.
Lastly, all you have to do is slip those tasty bags into the freezer, and you’re done!
2. How long does cabbage last?
When stored in the refrigerator, cabbages can last from 3 weeks to 2 months. That’s already longer than most veggies like cauliflower or lettuce.
But if you blanch those greens and put them in the freezer, you can extend their shelf life up to around a year.
3. Can you freeze shredded cabbage?
Yes, and you will not have to go through several steps to get it done. Just toss the cabbage pieces straight in the freezer, and they should last for a few weeks.
But here comes the downside, the distinct crisp of the veggies might be gone by then. So if you happen to have frozen shredded cabbage, make sure to only use them for dishes that will not be spoiled by soggy ingredients.
Simple process to freeze shredded cabbage:
- Wash cabbage with water, then leave it for a while
- Evenly spread them on a baking sheet or cookie sheet
- Move them into the freezer for 3 hours
- Take them out and put the frozen shredded cabbage in a plastic bag or zip-lock freezer bag
4. How to separate cabbage leaves?
There are 3 simple ways you can separate cabbage leaves:
- Blanch the head of the cabbage before peeling the leaves off. Blanching cabbage helps to soften the leaves, letting you separate them easily.
- Microwave the cored head of the cabbage for 3 minutes on a high setting before separating the leaves.
- You can place a whole head of cabbage in the freezer for 4 hours, then thaw it in the fridge for 1 hour. Thereafter, you should be able to peel the leaves away with little effort.
Leftover Frozen Cabbage Side Dishes
Freezing cabbages might be able to keep them from going down in quality, but this does not mean their freshness will stay the same as the just-bought ones.
With that said, you should only use them for soup or stir-fried food – dishes will taste delicious even when you cook them with cabbage that was previously frozen.
Here are some simple recipes you can try at home:
- Cabbage Casserole
- Tangy Cabbage Slaw for Pulled Pork Leftovers
- Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry
- Italian Vegetable Soup
- Sauerkraut
