Well whenever I’ve tried frozen wine it’s tasted horrible (and I’ll drink anything). I might not have shook it as that article suggests but I can’t see that affecting the taste too much. Surely the alcohol will seperate from the rest of the wine in the freezing process?
Cook’s Illustrated says it’s perfectly fine to freeze wine for use in cooking, but they didn’t cover it for drinking purposes.
There was a wine freezing thread a while back, and I tried it, and it was pretty much a bust. I froze the wine in an ice cube tray, but it never really froze solid. After three days I just dumped it all in to a bag and I have a slush of flat ice crystals and concentrated wine. My freezer does suck, though, so that could be my problem.
I did use the wine for a recipe, and though it was a bit awkward to measure, it worked okay.
Lecter: What became of your clams, Chefguy?
Chefguy: I froze them.
Lecter: You still wake up sometimes, don’t you? Wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the clams.
Sorry, couldn’t resist. It had to be done.
Stranger
Can you freeze whole limes and lemons? Also, on the bell pepper thing - I thoguht you had to parboil them before freezing. Is this incorrect? What other easily-spoiled veggies can you freeze? Like zucchini, yellow squash, etc. What about cucumbers?
You lose crunchiness when you freeze. In my hands, frozen cuke slices get slimy. I expect zukes and squahes would also lose texture. Frozen chopped jalapenos are good in casseroles etc., but don’t expect a crunch.
With regard to Basil, each summer I put up about half a gallon of fresh pesto in ice cube trays. If you freeze pesto, you don’t need to add so much oil. It’s good, and lasts into the next summer.
Cream cheese can be frozen if you plan on using it for cheese cake. Cheese in general gets crumbly in the freezer, but retains its taste.
I discovered, to my vast disappointment, that you can’t freeze fresh, homegrown tomatoes for later use in sauces and chili, etc. It turns them bitter (much like me, when I tried it. All that effort!).
I freeze wine into cubes to use in sauces and soups.
Most Girl Scout cookies and Milanos are even more enjoyable frozen than room-termperature, to me.
Ashes Ashes: You have to shake milk that’s been frozen in order to recombine. It becomes a habit to shake the milk every time you take it out of the refrigerator.
Lassi would be good; I’ll try that! I usually peel the bananas, freeze on a tray, and dump into a bag. Use for smoothies: break into the blender, add juice to taste or maybe milk or yogurt, maybe some other frozen fruit if you like, and whirl it up.
While we’re freezing things anyway, does anybody have a recipe for some kind of fruit ice that doesn’t need an ice-cream maker? There’s an Italian one, but I don’t remember the name, so I could use a pointer or two.
Sounds like you are asking about sorbetto or gelato. Gelato is actually more of a custard than ice cream. Here’s a link for ya’.
Stranger
I’ve never had a problem, and I know other people in the same position. You were chopping the tomatos first? And they were spotlessly clean? (I can imagine tiny traces of fertilisers, pesticide etc could cause big problems)
My husband claims that you can freeze whole apples to preserve them, but I would think they would get mushy. Does anyone know? Would it help if the apples were unripe before they were frozen?
This site says you can freeze whole apples but they need to be perfect. You’ll need to scroll to nearly the bottom of the page.
Is this because it dries out slightly in the freezer? Would using one of those vacuum-seal bags help?
<Aside> Damn, Stranger, that was funny!
<----bows down. I’m not worthy…
I gotta tell ya Ginger, I’ve found that Lactaid Milk will not freeze well at all. It separates slightly when freezing, and if allowed to thaw and be shaken in the carton, it is distinctly funky. Cheese also doesn’t tolerate freezing well- but then, I am referring to harder cheeses. Shredded cheddar, for example, is a disaster frozen. It may well be that softer, more…mouldy cheeses do very well frozen solid.
Mine? I bake banana bread with chocolate chips in loaf trays. I freeze each one in a zip-lock freezer bag while they are still slightly warm. You can pop that baby out 6 months later, allow it to thaw and it’s tasty, moist, firm and in all aspect akin to the day it was baked.
Cartooniverse
Pesto! Grow or buy in season a case of basil, make a giant batch of pesto, put it into ice cube trays, freeze it, and have instant two-serving chunks of pesto all year!
(I’ll mention you can even use it as a sauce for lasagne, to close the thread loop).
Gelato is the word I couldn’t get to come up, and I remember granita too now that I see it. Thanks!
No, it’s not drying out that does it. Even waxed or hermetically sealed cheeses suffer. I think what happens is that ice crystal formation disrupts the colloid structure of the cheese so that, once thawed, it doesn’t hold together so well. The taste doesn’t suffer, but cream cheese goes kind of curdy, and fozen aged cheddar would much rather crumble than slice.
If you use vacuum-seal bags freezing isn’t usually necessary (never necessary in my experience). Vacuum-sealed cheese lasts practically forever in the fridge.
Here’s one that hasn’t been covered. Sour cream doesn’t freeze well at all. It gets grainy.
I freeze shredded parmesan and mozzarella all the time, because it will be melted when I use it. Cream cheese, however, gets really grainy.
I love to take bagels to school, so I bought a big Costco-sized bag of individual-serving cream cheeses. The half that went into the freezer were nasty, and the half that stayed in the fridge was just fine, so it has to be something in the freezing process.