HOW TO FREEZE KALE!

[@HereForTheShips]

I just bought kale for the first time the other day to make a kale pesto, and they only had a very large bag of it at the supermarket. I didn't know what to do with it all, so this helped a LOT. I will freeze it asap.

[@crazykenz4203]

Glad it was helpful and that you won't have to waste the rest of your kale!!! Kale pesto - neat! What did you put into it?

[@somaliagullette3230]

Glad I found this! Thanksgiving is coming up and I don't want to wash a bunch of greens of the day of. This really helps! 😁

[@afistfulofdandelions8238]

I canned for the first time yesterday. I juiced tomatoes carrots parsley and cucumbers from my garden and cooked it most of the day to thicken it up a bit. I was able to get 8 pints of tomato sauce for my pantry. Yeah !!! I think I will try your kale method today as I have several plants in the garden too.

[@crazykenz4203]

So cool to hear about your canning experience - that's such a neat idea to juice everything and then let it cook down! Did you follow a recipe? Just checked my garden today and my kale is doing sooooo much better now than even ten days ago when I picked all my kale for this video - think our current cooler weather has killed some of the bugs and now things are really flourishing. Should be able to get a couple more bags of frozen kale before I have to pull everything out of the community garden. :D

[@afistfulofdandelions8238]

@@crazykenz4203 I didn't follow a recipe I just juiced what I had from the garden like a v 8 juice of sorts I suppose. Mostly tomatoes some parsley one cucumber and a few carrots. and basic seasonings. It turned out well. I was thinking of canning more as juice for chili or a bloody mary mix would be fun too. I would not need to cook it as long for that and then can it in quarts rather than pints. Trees are starting to turn here in Eau Claire... I am not ready for fall ….summer when way too fast this year.

[@crazykenz4203]

Ah you are in Eau Claire, cool! I have never been there myself, but my mom went to school there. Leaves are starting to slowly change here near Madison, too, but today is one of those weird hot and sticky days (I'll take the crisp Autumn weather over this any day!). So I'm guessing with your tomato juice, you water bath canned it? How long did you do it (if you did, indeed, water bath can it)?

[@afistfulofdandelions8238]

@@crazykenz4203 I put 1 tbsp. of bottle lemon juice in each pint jar and water bath canned them for 35 min as per the Ball canning book.

[@crazykenz4203]

Excellent, thanks for the info!

[@adamUDavies]

Thanks for the video I used a salad spinner to remove excess water

[@crazykenz4203]

Yes, excellent idea!

[@nazrarahiman7849]

Thanks, I was searching as to how to freeze some greens this really helped.

[@crazykenz4203]

Glad to hear it!!!

[@mrigankoghosh6858]

Thanks for sharing this information. Love from India

[@crazykenz4203]

Thanks so much for watching! Love from America!

[@UnaNeary]

I would not want vinegar in my kale. I just hold the stem and run the cold tap on each spring to get any dirt or bugs off (if it is organic). Other than that, great info. I now freeze my kale whereas before I would use it from the fridge and the leaves would turn yellow in a few days.

[@crazykenz4203]

Yup, definitely a great way to not let kale turn yellow and have to be thrown away!

[@pattystone4157]

I just put it in the big bag in the big bin in the corner of my kitchen. It makes it more convenient when I am taking out the trash.

[@crazykenz4203]

Hahahaha, my husband has the same feelings about kale!

[@kleineroteHex]

Love your technical terms 😊 I got myself a decent dehydrator, finally! And the dehydrating frenzy started: mangos, peaches, fruit leathers, including thick tomato paste. I need to wait until my kale is less bug eaten to freeze it, once it gets a bit cooler I hope the cabbage caterpillars get less! The kale will still grow! One note of caution though, if you are using an aluminum pot with your vinegar water, check that out; I know it's all cold and doesn't get heated in that pot, still be careful!

[@crazykenz4203]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for commenting about the pot - I'm going to pick up a new stainless steel pot for water bath canning and also for using when I have big batches of stuff to cook (and clean kale). I'm pretty sure the pot I use is aluminum and what you said totally makes sense. Do you have any recommendations for brands for stainless steel pots, by chance? I should really pull out my dehydrator!!! My friend gave me one that her parents had from ages ago, but they never used it and it is in great condition! My fridge is overflowing with fresh produce (I can't help myself at the co-op or local farmers' markets or farm stands, not to mention all of my garden stuff), so should play around with dehydrating some of it. Haha and yes, I'm full of really great technical terms! :P

[@kleineroteHex]

@@crazykenz4203 😁😁 Sorry, no recommendations, but even Walmart sells stainless steel stockpots. I'd go with the size you need for canning, how many jars do you need to fit in. I have an old stockpot that only fits 4 , that size I use pints but it would height wise fit quart jars. Often I only have 3 or 4 jars and I use that pot. Even my stainless only holds 5 though. Don't worry about a fitting rack for the bottom, you can put a cotton rag in and set the jars on.

[@crazykenz4203]

Thanks so much for all of the info and ideas! I think I may ask Santa for some nice stainless steel pots for Christmas (which I will buy myself during the Black Friday sales, haha). I have a couple Le Creuset cast iron pans and a Staub cast iron Dutch oven, so will start using those more for cooking, but definitely want to get some stainless steel into the mix. I have been thinking about switching out my current aluminum Calphalon pans for awhile now, but your comment really lit the fire under my butt to start my research!!! I want to find some safer options for baking, too - I have some glassware, but am not sure about basic things like cookie sheets coming in stainless steel (I know I can use parchment, but was just reading about how that can be covered in toxic chemicals, ugh). Do you have any experience using cast iron for baking? I don't bake many cookies or cakes these days, but do roast vegetables fairly frequently. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

[@kleineroteHex]

@@crazykenz4203 ahh, yes, black Friday 👍👍 I have enamel coated cookie sheets, except for bread I don't have any cast iron to bake in, they are just heavy. Mostly I bake in glass. I get pie plates at our local reuse it shop, for pennies on the $ and use most of them as saucers for my flowerpots; but should I need another they clean up well! I'm shocked, parchment is coated??? Gross! I use the brown natural parchment, need to check if that is coated as well! And yes, please get rid of aluminum cookware!!!!! Put flowerpots in 😊 I did that with some cookware I had and the coating started to get scratches. And veggies do well in the large Pyrex glass pans!

[@crazykenz4203]

I actually just re-potted some houseplants in bigger containers and per your advice, currently have a pot sitting in a glass pie dish - fits perfectly! I will have to remember this the next time I am at the thrift store - such a good idea! I'm guessing the natural brown paper parchment is probably cleaner than what I currently have (a big roll from Costco). I looked up the "If You Care" brand and it seemed ok. I just read something recently about how parchment can be toxic, yuck. Thanks for all of the ideas!!!

[@Badhans2007]

Thanks Kendra

[@padraigdougherty5059]

The kale from the garden goes into my cocker spaniels crockpot mix. Is vinegar still okay to use on the leaves? Thank you. PD's mom, Virginia

[@rostamr4096]

Does blanching remove the nutrients?

[@DebRoo11]

It can actually do the opposite. It prevents the decay/compost cycle. It halts the enzymes for the process.

[@krystalanderson5880]

I have to for my birds and I use the vacuum settled bag using the mechanic and it always looks like nasty wet looking spinach how do you defrost it without it being nasty like that and coming back to life presents natural crunchy-ish at least been trying different ways n they haven't worked if you know could you please tell me.. Anybody even if somehow this doesn't send the question\comment to the actual poster not very good with technology please and thank you everyone

[@garyritterstrings]

Wow, thanks. Great info. I will blanch too.

[@crazykenz4203]

Happy blanching!

[@thisoldtubsoapery1638]

Love the hair do Kendra! Hey, my kombucha is NOT bubbly. I have bubbles... I have the hiss when I open my bottles. Question... When doing the 2nd ferment, am I to put a lid on the jar or is it ok to use a banded towel over top??? I was wondering if this is my issue. I have been using a towel banded over my 1 gallon jar as it 2nd ferment. I am doing my kombucha just like you show with the large dispenser and I then do 2 - 1 gallon jars with my fruit for 2nd ferment and flavoring. Thank you!

[@crazykenz4203]

Thanks so much! I always put the lid on the gallon jar during the 2nd fermentation stage. How does the kombucha taste? Is it really sour? I'm wondering if it's been overfermented - if this is the case, it won't get bubbly. I'd suggest testing a batch with a lid on during the flavoring stage and see if that gets you more bubbles. Keep me posted!

[@nuri3397]

Thanks for sharing. Does this also go for spinach. I've been freezing my spinach without blanching.

[@crazykenz4203]

I've never frozen spinach just plain, but I did once have a lot of spinach that I knew I wouldn't use up fresh, so I blended it up and froze it in ice cube trays to add to smoothies.

[@DebRoo11]

You can google blanching times for each vegetable it will be different

[@НурайымЭсенова-я2й]

Awesome!!!!

[@crazykenz4203]

Thank you!

[@BuySmartChannel2700]

Can one use cold water from the sink if they dont have ice ??

[@DebRoo11]

Needs to be ice. Buy a bag. Cold water will warm too fast and it won't stop the cooking process fast enough. You need to shock the kale with ice water

[@2ndskinmineral]

Love Kale....

[@crazykenz4203]

I think it definitely should be respected more! So much kale hate out there, but it's really a great healthy veg!

[@edithrosales961]

On

[@edithrosales961]

Kendra Lee o

[@НурайымЭсенова-я2й]

I love your videos

[@crazykenz4203]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@emilyharper3257]

Do you pick all that kale at once or do you accumulate it over a few days?

[@crazykenz4203]

That was all picked on the same day! If I am going to freeze a batch (and go through the process of cleaning it well and blanching it), I want to make it worth my time!

[@robertl152]

Informative video 👌

[@crazykenz4203]

Thank you!!!

[@francoisgrange6933]

Great yours advices sessions ! Very different from sfe. You look always so nice. Please continue !

[@crazykenz4203]

Merci beaucoup!

[@bretthong6137]

Kale is a superfood. Your very beautiful

[@shamarab4632]

I blanched mine for 2 mins but it didn't look done enough. Will is still be okay?

[@crazykenz4203]

Yes, that should be totally fine! Blanching stops an enzyme that causes kale to continue ripening (you can freeze unblanched kale, but it won't last as long as if you blanched it). 2 minutes should be just fine!

[@DebRoo11]

Blanching is not cooking. You dont want to cook the kale

[@nickyboehlen6836]

Medium large Grocery bag of kale it grew like a weed washed half of it well have the water on the stove b4 watching this.

[@nickyboehlen6836]

I tripled wash it already so I'm not going to need to pick bugs out when blanched.

[@crazykenz4203]

Great!!! Kale grows like crazy once it starts going! Hope it turned out well!

[@ezekielgodfrey3506]

Strainer dudes...haha

[@crazykenz4203]

Haha, yes I tend to make up lots of very scientific terms in the kitchen. :D

[@kevywilliams3304]

You keep stuff in the freezer more then 6 months ???? Bad bad …

[@DebRoo11]

lol nothing wrong with that as long as it isnt freezer burnt

[@bellaforth4312]

The white thing are eggs

[@crazykenz4203]

Mmmmm yummy, glad I gave them a nice vinegar bath!

[@tickettochide3832]

Ewww BUGS

[@JesusRolls]

Cool video. Just a helpful tip. Loose the flannel, and crank up the AC. :)