freezing summer squash/zucchini

I’m in big time preservation mode these days at home: I’ve canned nearly 100 pounds of tomatoes, frozen dozens of ears of corn and 25 pounds of sweet and hot peppers, pickled lots of cucumbers, and still have a big list of things to do. Our squash and zucchini are finally finishing up at home, and we’re a little sick of eating it, to be honest. I made some relish (recipe coming soon) with a whole bunch of it, and then froze the rest in plastic quart-sized bags (or glass jars) to use in the middle of winter when we’re missing squash again.

For all varieties of summer squash, I just clean the skin, cut of the ends, and throw the squash into the food processor with the shredding disc. It makes quick work out of an otherwise tiring task. After the squash is shredded, I label the plastic bag accordingly, put the shredded squash in the bags, and pop them in the freezer.

Some people say that you should blanch the squash, but I  don’t really blanch much of anything. It’s an extra step, and I often seem to let it go too long (I always seem to be doing six things at a time, which isn’t very good for keeping the blanching process short. Come to think of it, trying to do six things at a time isn’t really good for actually accomplishing much of anything!). If I let it go too long, the veggies get mushy, and I don’t notice any taste difference in the blanched version and the non-blanched version. Some say that blanching halts the enzyme action that can lead to decay, but so does freezing, so I’m sticking with my lazy lady method. Feel free to blanch if you have some extra time on your hands, but in my experience, so long as you eat the produce within a year’s time, you’re fine.