Freezing Fresh Aubergines: This Is How It Works

Aubergines are in peak season between August and October. If you want to eat eggplants all year round, you can freeze fresh eggplants. You can find out how here.

Interesting facts about eggplants

Originally from Asia, aubergines, also known as eggplants, were later also cultivated in the Mediterranean region. Nowadays, they come in different shapes (oblong, pear, ovoid or round) and colors (brownish, violet, green, orange-red, yellow, white, and marbled). Aubergines consist of more than 90 percent water and have little taste of their own. They are rich in vitamins and fiber, low in fat and calories, and contain hardly any sugar.

Fresh eggplant: shelf life

You can store aubergines in the fridge at a temperature between 8 °C and 10 °C for about a week. The shelf life of frozen aubergines in the freezer at -18 °C is between 9 months (in the freezer bag) and 14 months (vacuum sealed).

Freeze fresh aubergines

If you want to freeze fresh aubergines, there are a few things you should consider. Raw frozen eggplant will become mushy after thawing. They lose their taste and color and can only be processed into mush. It is better to pre-cook the aubergines before freezing. You can easily process aubergines that have been blanched and frozen in slices while they are still frozen and add portions to your dishes. And this is how you do it:

Instructions

1. Only use fresh, ripe eggplants. You can recognize them by their plump, shiny skin. The whitish to cream-colored flesh yields slightly when pressure is applied. Unripe eggplants have green flesh and are bitter and unfit for consumption. The brownish flesh of overripe aubergines is spongy and tastes unpleasantly bitter.
2. Wash the eggplants. Cut off the ends and remove the skin. A potato peeler is best for peeling.
3. Then cut the aubergines into slices or cubes approx. 8 mm thick. You should only cut as many slices or cubes as you can handle at once. Sliced ​​aubergines discolor after about 30 minutes and become unsightly.
4. Bring water to a boil in a large enough pot. Add about 100 milliliters of lemon juice to one liter of water. Lemon prevents the aubergines from turning brown without changing the taste.
5. Blanch the eggplant slices in the lemon water for about 3 to 4 minutes. This destroys enzymes that cause eggplants to rot.
6. Carefully lift the blanched eggplant slices out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon. Shock them in ice water for about 5 minutes to finish the cooking process.
7. Drain the aubergine slices well in a sieve or place them on paper towels.
8. Now fill the aubergine slices in portions in suitable freezer containers. If you are using freezer bags, carefully squeeze the air out of the bag after filling to avoid freezer burn. For freezer containers, leave about 1.5 cm of space between the lid and the frozen food to expand.

Freeze prepared eggplant?

Not only fresh eggplants can be frozen. You can also easily freeze food that has already been fried, grilled, or baked. Just make sure they cool completely before freezing.

Tip: You don’t necessarily have to peel the aubergines. You can also use the peel without hesitation. The shell contains valuable vitamins and fiber and can be eaten. However, if you don’t like the bitter taste that can develop in the skin, or if you want to dice and cook the eggplants, then it’s better to peel eggplants.