Tuesday, July 2, 2013

let the preserving begin...

Plan was to get some strawberries in June...but well, plans fall through. I knew we wouldn't yet have enough strawberries of our own to preserve, but I'd planned to buy some local organic berries. But yeah, it just didn't happen, and we're stretching the limits of the season now. I'm not going to shed any tears over it...we've got more than enough strawberry jam left from the last time I made it and even have enough sliced frozen ones left from last summer for a few batches of muffins through the coming year.

So my first preservation feat (feat--ha! like there's anything hard about it :P ) of the season was radishes. Rich and I love radishes, but even we couldn't munch our way through this year's harvest. We always tend to overplant them.
(Gray likes to harvest them, but doesn't like to eat them.)

And you know, I've no idea why I never thought about freezing them before. But when we just couldn't keep up with the eating, I decided to look into it. Turns out they're as easy to freeze as kohlrabi.










Wash, slice, blanch 2 minutes, then into the ice water.













And now we've got 4 lovely bags of radishes for future stir frys. Supposedly they stay nice and crisp. The kohlrabi I froze last summer did, so I've got hope for these babies too. :)

Apparently you can also freeze the radish greens, but I've never eaten them before. Have you? Suggestions for using them?

9 comments:

Care said...

I like most foods and will usually try ANYTHING but I am not fond of radishes. I always give them to my husband. I'll eat 'em if I don't want to be rude, tho.
The strawberries around here were amazing! Not enough to keep, just enough to eat. :)

Care said...

I like most foods and will usually try ANYTHING but I am not fond of radishes. I always give them to my husband. I'll eat 'em if I don't want to be rude, tho.
The strawberries around here were amazing! Not enough to keep, just enough to eat. :)

Debi said...

Care,
Eating's good! :D We haven't even gotten to eat many of our strawberries, because we have a chipmunk thief! Thus far he's been quite devilish in outsmarting us. :P

Snowball said...

I gave up on strawberries a few years ago. First they wouldn't grow at all, then the ants got to them before we could.

Mmmm, radishes. They're great in salads. Never thought about eating the greens though. I would think you could use them in any way that you'd use spinach.

Your post has me hungry for salad, now - with radishes!

Amanda said...

Huh. I had no idea you could do that with radishes. And I never thought about using them in stirfry - what a great idea!

DesLily said...

sometimes you are just sooooo domestic I want to gag! (LOL just kidding! lol.. everything you do is so outstanding!)

DesLily said...

sometimes you are just sooooo domestic I want to gag! (LOL just kidding! lol.. everything you do is so outstanding!)

Debi said...

Snowball,
YES! I love radishes in salads! Though I tend to snitch them all out of my bowl and eat them before we even sit down to eat...I just can't resist them.

Amanda,
I only recently thought of using radishes in stir frys. Sort of seems like something we should have thought of long ago though, doesn't it, because they're pretty much a perfect addition. :)

Pat,
You made me snort coffee out my nose!!! :D

Eva said...

How neat! I love radishes!

I'd probably cook the greens the same way as kale: sauteed in olive oil w a bit of garlic until they're not bitter, than add balsamic vinegar (and if I'm feeling ambitious, a bit of honey and soy sauce) and let it cook down. Yum!