Springs bounty of fresh asparagus

This years the year for us to be as self sufficient as possible. Now mind you I’m fully aware we can’t grow oranges in the mountains of Vermont. So I know I’ll still have to buy some stuff from the grocery store but minimal amounts is what I’m striving for. We also have a decent sized garden for my preserving needs and bought a summer vegetable CSA with some super cool farmers about our age! What a great way to support local Agriculture.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved picking fresh asparagus with my dad In the woods. This year I was lucky enough to buy about 20+ pounds so far! With more to come from local friends who grow it. To preserve the best fresh foods from our Veggie CSA and garden we start in the spring and end in the fall. I just used up the rest of last years frozen peppers for Chinese food I made last week.

So this is how I preserve asparagus (freezer method)

step one. Get the asparagus, check Facebook market place, road side stands and farmers markets

step two. Trim the tough part of the asparagus. I snap it at the base or you can cut about an inch and a half above the base

Step three. Blanch the asparagus

blanching is a method of putting a raw vegetable in a pan of boiling hot water. I leave mine until it starts to get just a little flimsy

Step four. Toss asparagus now into an ice water bath. This stops the cooking process and chills the asparagus to a cool temperature that’s easy to work with

Step five. Place in a colander and make sure it drains really well ( I let mine drain over night and will shake the excess water off multiple times)

Step six. I individually flash freeze mine on baking sheets so I can get one or two pieces out for a recipient here or there. This makes them not all freeze together in a hard clump

You can also just toss them in a bag and vacuum seal them.

FINALLY enjoy the fruits of your labor all year long !

We plan to do about 30-40 lbs of asparagus this way throughout the season. That’s almost one pound fresh all year long !