Preparing Kale for Freezer Storage

Not only were we blessed with a large quantity of celery, which I blanched and froze for long-term storage, we were also blessed with several bags of kale.  I love this organic superfood, with all its nutrients, and wanted to make sure it would last for a long time.  And it certainly wouldn't do that sitting in my fridge!  So I also prepared it for freezer storage.  Here's what I did for kale:

Cut the rib out of each leaf.  I find this easiest to do right at the beginning, before rinsing or soaking or anything.

Get a large bowl (or bowls, in my case!) and fill it with water, and a few "glugs" of vinegar.  Put the kale into the bowl, and mix it around a bit with your hands.  Let it soak for a while--I think I let mine soak, hand-mixing it up occasionally, for about ten minutes or so.

I had so much kale I had to use several bowls!

Rinse off the kale with cold water, and place on drying towels.

Gently place more drying towels on top of the kale.

Carefully press down, firmly is fine, to absorb as much excess moisture as you can.

Remove the top towel layers, and chop the kale to your desired size.  Make sure you have a sharp knife!  Then, layer the chopped kale between waxed paper in casserole dishes.  I got about three layers of kale in each casserole dish.

That's where the pictures end!  Because--at this point, when you have processed all your kale, you flash-freeze it.  Meaning, place your casserole dishes in the freezer and let everything freeze up.  It shouldn't take too long, maybe two or three hours, but longer if you've layered the kale in more than two layers.  I actually let this kale stay in the freezer overnight--no harm!

When the kale is frozen, simply take the dishes of kale out of the freezer, place the chopped, frozen kale into freezer bags, suck as much air as possible out of the bags (I use a straw for this), and zip those bags closed.  Now they're ready for long-term storage in the freezer!


Back to life,
Christine

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