John Myers
Yes, you can freeze eggplant. However, if you want to freeze fresh aubergines, you need to do a few things. Because putting the purple-colored fruit whole in the freezer proves to be extremely impractical when it is later thawed and processed. So it’s worth making the effort and using our guide. So you have the delicious vegetables ready to hand for cooking even in winter when it is actually no longer the aubergine season. That’s how it’s done:
1. Only freeze fresh, firm fruit raw.
2. Wash the eggplant, peel it, and cut it into thin slices (about eight millimeters).
3. Blanch the slices in a pot of boiling water for about four minutes. To prevent them from discoloring, add 200 ml of lemon juice to two liters of water. If you prepare larger amounts of eggplant for freezing, use more water and lemon accordingly.
4. Then place the aubergine slices in a large bowl with ice cubes for five minutes: this will stop the cooking process of the vegetables immediately.
5. Rinse the slices under running water and place in a freezer bag or suitable container. Label the frozen food with the current date and then freeze it.
If you do everything right, freezing aubergine will give you a shelf life of around nine months. Vacuum-packed, the eggplant can even be kept in the freezer for up to 14 months. If aubergines remain frozen longer, they won’t spoil, but they lose a lot of their taste and become oily – and are therefore no longer a great pleasure. If you want to prepare the frozen eggplant later, you don’t have to pay special attention to anything. After defrosting, simply process the eggplant like a fresh one.
Freezing dishes with aubergines – that works too
If you have leftovers or want to pre-cook, you can easily freeze baked or roasted aubergines. However, first, let the finished aubergine or the dish for it cool down completely before you put it in the freezer container and put it on ice. Before preparing an eggplant dish, read if you need to salt eggplants before cooking.
