Spinach Help Please...

[trt]

I had a big bag of (cook in the microwave) spinach delivered instead of 2 small ones.

Would it be OK to cook it and freeze? thanks.

[Retrochic]

yes -cook it (steaming is best) squeeze out as much water as you can then freeze it.

[sacha.86]

Would of thought so, I freeze cooked spinach and mulukhiyah (a leaf similar to spinach) and they always seem fine, but they are mixed with other ingredients though.

[Jackdaw33]

I'm no expert but I doubt it. Spinach is one of the very few things, if not the only one, which takes longer to cook in the microwave than it does on the stove (1 min). I would just split the packet, freeze half and cook the other half.

[Retrochic]

you can't freeze raw spinach -it has enzymes on it that will make it bad and it will come out slimey. You need to 'blanch' it best way is to steam it for a few seconds then press as much water out as you can and freeze it.

[Jackdaw33]

I bow to those with greater culinary expertise than mine. I still wouldn't do it.

[Jackdaw33]

Apparently the whole raison d'être of the Popeye cartoons was to encourage children to eat their greens.

[trt]

thanks

[diddlydo]

Cook it in its own liquid (i.e. the water on the leaves after washing) for 2-3 minutes. Refresh under cold running water. Drain, squeeze and freeze.

[ummmm]

If it's a 'cook in the microwave' bag it would have been pre-washed. I would wilt it in a drying frying pan. If you steam or boil it it'll be watery.

[Retrochic]

you can wilt spinach by steaming it for about a minute. However you cook it it will release its water -even dry frying in a pan -thats why I said 'squeeze well before freezing. I freeze pounds of the stuff from our garden every year.

[ummmm]

No need for squeezing if it's dried fried.

[Canary42]

Eat twice as much - it'll do you good ;-)

[Retrochic]

Ummmm am I really gonna argue the toss over a bowl of spinach? No. To freeze any leafy veg you need to get rid of as much water in the product as possible. You carry on freezing spinach (if you ever have that is) and I'll carry on my way.

[ummmm]

My point, Retro, is why cook it in a way that will add more water to it.

I'm not suggesting you change your way of doing things, heaven forbid!

[pastafreak]

Several methods here....

http://www.hgtvgardens.com/freezing/how-to-freeze-spinach