Hi again y’all,

Sorry for flooding the community, but I’m currently been trying to find new recipes to work with, and came across one that called for fresh green beans. I have a bag of frozen ones, and am curious as to whether or not I can use the frozen ones I have as a substitute.

In general I was curious that if I were to substitute fresh produce with frozen, if there would be anything I’d need to keep in mind. Would the cooking time differ? Would I need to thaw the frozen produce prior? Is some produce unable to be substituted with frozen equivalents?

Thanks for help in advance.

  • fart_pickle@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 months ago

    It depends on a veggie/fruit. I don’t have much experience with frozen fruits so I will stay on a veggie side of the question.

    So, in order to freeze veggies, usually you would blanche it first. It will reduce the volume. As a rule of thumb one unit of frozen veggies would replace a one to 1.5 unit of fresh ones - depends on a veggie. On top of that frozen veggies could release more water when cooking. Next, frozen veggies need less cooking time.

    Few other things to consider:

    • frozen veggies are a no go for roasting (they get mushy)
    • frozen veggies are perfect for soups or anything boiled (e.g. carrot/corn puree)
    • frozen veggies might need more or less seasoning, depending on a freezing process
    • in most cases frozen veggies have a worse texture
    • Binzy_Boi@feddit.onlineOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Less cooking time? Why’s that? I would have assumed the opposite considering they would need time to be brought to the same temp, no?

      • fart_pickle@lemmy.world
        5·
        2 months ago

        In most cases frozen veggies are blanched before freezing. Blanching is nothing more like boiling fresh veggies and rapidly cooling them off. The process makes veggies already per-cooked. Another thing to consider is that freezing veggies will break the cells (the magic of water crystals breaking the veggie cells) which makes the veggies softer.