Never have put okra in the freezer.
According to my research the recommendation is to blanch the whole pods for 3 or 4 minutes. Then cool and seal in bags leaving headroom.
Can the frozen okra at a later date be fried? What do you all do with the okra?
You might check this post…
I am going to give this a try this year… got some okra near ready.
TNHunter
Have you tried chopping it into 1/2 inch pieces and freezing for adding to soups or for breading and frying later. Most grocers sell frozen cut okra.
Canning is something that I do too much of. I am looking for something quick and easy. Freezing should accomplish that. Thanks for the link though. I had forgotten about that thread.
Yes, I have bought the little packages of frozen okra at Krogers for soups. I will freeze some for that purpose.
I now thinking of chopping the blanched okra into 1/4 inch pieces and dredging with. cornmeal and placing them on a cookie sheet for freezing a few hours. After that use my Foodsaver vacuum sealer on them. Instant okra for frying this winter!
Should work - what do you think?
I used frozen okra, probably also from Krogers, for the first time this year. It worked much better than expected.
Often fresh okra from the store isn’t very fresh looking, the frozen seems a good option.
Stuff sure is slimy after blanching. Did a cookie sheet full tonight. Only took about 20 minutes from start to getting it into freezer. Let it freeze over night.
Did not like the slimy okra as a kid. Remember sort of liking fried okra.
Oh wait - I am still a kid. LOL
Coating with cornmeal and flour works great. We don’t even blanch it before doing that, just cut up, coat, and freeze. This is for pan frying. If I were going to deep fat fry, I would put on a pan and freeze first before putting in a ziplock, might even dip it in egg/milk to get a little thicker coating of breading on there before freezing.
Sounds good, might have to get some out of the freezer tomorrow and cook it.
As ctduckhunter said. A bit of battering and then breading…and individual quick freeze on a baking sheet…and then put in freezer bags.
. (But if you’re freezing for soups and stuff, breading not recommended).(And blanching I typically don’t do either, even though it’s probably recommended.) I’ve not had any extra okra to freeze lately though!
I cant use corn meal or corn flour… but can use 5 spice, fine almond flour, panko (crushed pork rhinds).
If you just slice it, dip in egg/buttermilk, then coat with your fav spices/coatings… then freez it.
Assume you put it on something like a baking sheet lined with parchment paper… spread it out some (not all clumped up).
Let it freeze for about a hour… that is how I often freeze berries…
Once frozen good you can just store it in a freezer bag ? For how long ?
I like to freeze stuff like that in Mason jars… not a fan of plastic… plus in Mason jars I can vacuum seal b4 freezing.
If you pepped it like that (no blanching) cut up dipped seasoned coated frozen vac sealed…
Would it last 6 8, 12 months in freezer… get you thru until next years crop ?
Using that method what have been your experiences with quality taste after 6-8 months in the freezer ?
Thanks
TNHunter
With ziplock freezer bags, I can get a year out of it with no problem. I squeeze as much air out of them before I put in the freezer. I bet you can get more than that with jars and a vacuum sealer.