Hashtags: #FreezeFresh #NetGalley.

Publisher: Storey Publishing

Release Date: July 19, 2022

The Promise: (taken from tag line since no book description in NetGalley)

The Ultimate Guide to PRESERVING 55 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES for Maximum Flaver and Versatility

The Expectation:

I read the reviews already posted for this and so I know not to be expecting a recipe book: but I wasn’t anyway. I expect this to be a how-to book. I hope to gain some knowledge and confidence in freezing fruits & vegetables.

Quote:

For me, growing food is grounding; it makes me feel connected and whole. I share a lot of our life on social media and on my website, and I find great joy in inspiring others with what we're growing, eating, and preserving. I wish that more people could experience growing their own food; I truly think it could change the world.

What I connected with:

I love the bright colors / photos. Also, the simple instructions. And explanations about what works and what doesn’t! Easy to follow & understand; and then do!

What I struggled with:

I didn’t expect this to be a recipe book like some reviewers seem to have expected. However as I was reading through the book, I kept thinking “Does she have a companion recipe book?” That would be awesome!

What I learned:

That freezing food isn’t as difficult as my own overthinking led me to believe it would be.

How it transformed me in some way:

I am now way more confident about taking on freezing vegetables and fruits that I never would have considered freezing before! That’s a big win!

I would definitely recommend this to friends and family & want a hard copy for my own personal chef library!

Freeze Fresh by Crystal Schmidt is the ultimate book for all things persevering and canning. Starting with an introduction to freezing and freezers to blanching and then taking you through the many fruits and vegetables that you can freeze and how you can freeze them. A very handy resource for anyone who is new to preserving or just wants to improve.

Do you love fresh tasting fruits and vegetables, but don't want the hassle of canning them?

"Freeze Fresh" by Crystal Schmidt is a wealth of information. This book has idea's on basically freezing anything you can imagine. Schmidt explains how to get started with basic supplies, techniques, freezers, containers, food safety, picking fresh produce, thawing, along with how to add other flavors like oils, vinegar, and lemon juice.

I love all the recipes to use the frozen items to make delicious dishes like broth, juice, pie filling, cookies, soups, guacamole, smoothies, ice cream, fruit bars, and so much more!

Thank you NetGalley and Storey Publishing for allowing me to review this beautiful book! "Freeze Fresh" will be published July 19, 2022.

Freeze Fresh: The Ultimate Guide to Preserving 55 Fruits and Vegetables for Maximum Flavor and Versatility is an extensive reference book suitable for all households and cooks. The Fruit and vegetables are organised alphabetically, and instructions are given for preparation, freezing, storage methods, and recipes for using your hoard. Lots of additional information, tips and tricks are included. I especially liked the tips on organising a chest freezer, and how to label and keep track of everything. The author also acknowledges that frozen produce is different from fresh and all recipes and advice take advantage of this fact. Overall an excellent resource.

This reference book gives guidelines on the best way to freeze 55 fruits and vegetables in order to maximize their flavor, texture, and usage. The entry for each item includes instructions for how to prep the produce (whether it can be frozen raw or needs to be blanched first), what type of container to store it in, and a few recipes featuring that item. Some of the recipes are for the produce once it has been frozen, and some use the produce raw, and then you freeze the cooked product. A couple of the recipes that really stood out to me were the cherry butter (you know like apple butter, but using cherries—doesn’t that sound yummy?) and the roasted garlic paste (because roasted garlic is time consuming, this way you can make a big batch of it and freeze it in small portions). Overall a great reference guide.

Thank you to NetGalley & Storey Publishing for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is a guide to preserving 55 fruits and vegetables.

The book covers the freezing basics and then in alphabetical order it shows you what to do with your fruit and veg. It explains how to steam, boil or flash freeze produce. Also, it covers what to store the produce in, organization, how long products are good for in the freezer, and what kitchen tools are required.

In the A-Z section, not only does it explain how to freeze the produce, the book also gives a number of recipes that can be made to be frozen, such as apple pie filling, plus recipes to make with the fruit or vegetable that has come out of the freezer. The recipes that are included use imperial measurements.

There were quite a few items that I hadn't thought could be frozen, such as cucumber and melon, or making your own zoodles. There are definitely many ideas in this book and it would be a great way to make produce last longer rather than send it to the landfill.

This reminds me of my childhood where my mother would pick the fruit and vegetables in our garden, rhubarb and beans were quite a favourite in our home, and freeze them, alongside the blackberries we had walked up the south downs to collect in the late summer.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This was very useful and I learnt some helpful tips especially re the recipes that used freezed products. This would be great for someone starting out or someone that needed a refresher. It was written in a friendly story.

I was given an advance copy by the publishers and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

This book is a great resource for those who have a productive garden or those who are preparing to expand their garden. There are a few recipes, but largely this is simply instructional: methods for safely freezing a long list of fruits and veggies. Fairly simple and easy to follow directions.

This book does what it says on the tin.
It explains some useful tips when freezing - some bits were genuinely interesting, while others were pretty much common sense.
The best bit of this book was the recipe ideas on what to do with your frozen fruit/veg after.

Overall this book was useful - but it's not something that you NEED as a lot is just common sense.

Freeze Fresh: The Ultimate Guide to Preserving 55 Fruits and Vegetables for Maximum Flavor and Versatility by Crystal Schmidt is a great resource for helping with the longevity of your fruits and vegetables. The pictures are beautiful, the tips and hints are useful, and the recipes are divine. While I haven’t frozen anything yet, I did make the Roasted Lemon Herb Potatoes. Lemons are a game changer for roasted potatoes!

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

This book is a perfect resource for anybody trying to save food but especially those wanting to get into food prepping but who don't quite want to stick their foot into the canning pool. We get a brief history of freezers and preserving foods in the cold which I found quite interesting. You also get a great run down of blanching (a skill that becomes very necessary in this book). I also really appreciated how the recipes included in the book made it clear if it was freezer friendly or if you'd have to eat them immediately. A great book to have in your kitchen to help save your groceries.

A very interesting book!
There were a lot more recipes than I expected - I thought it would be a very theoretical book on the science behind freezing different fruits and vegetables, but it's actually very practical with both the theory and the practical tips and recipes.
There are always tips on how to freeze the fresh produce (which is what I was looking for) but also ideas on cooked produce to freeze or what to make with thawed items.
Overall very versatile and helpful.

This book is an utter revelation! There is really SO much more to freezing fruit and vegetables in plastic bags! This is a great book for anyone who grows their own fruit & veg, or who pick soft fruits each year at Pick Your Own (PYO) farms. It’s also a must for people who just want to reduce food waste by freezing any excess fruit and vegetables.

I really learned a lot from this book, I hadn’t thought of shredding vegetables prior to freezing, or even making compotes/mashes/pastes to freeze. I also saw vegetables and fruits that I wouldn’t have considered freezing before e.g. cucumbers, melons and grapes, but I will certainly try freezing them.

Freeze Fresh is really well laid out with an explanation of the freezing process, different methods of freezing, the various containers and bags to use for the best results, tips on the best way to prepare fruit & veg for freezing. I also found the useful tips on maximising space in chest freezers (using cardboard crates) really insightful. The photographs of the fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables and cooked recipes are really beautiful.

The added bonus was also having recipes for each fruit/vegetable which can either be frozen as a dish (listed as “For the Freezer”), or using the thawed frozen fruit/vegetable (listed as “For the Table”).

I really can’t wait to try some of the recipes using soft fruits that I’d frozen earlier this summer. And, going forward, I’m going to freeze access fruit and veg in a more imaginative way.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Storey Publishing for making the book available to me as an ARC for a fair and honest review.

This is a great guide to freezing fresh fruits and vegetables. It goes into how to blanch, flash freeze, etc. and how to use the produce once you've frozen it. Lots of photos. There are some recipes to use some of the products. It covers most common garden produce like blueberries, melons, potatoes, greens, herbs, plums, broccoli, etc.

I was pleased to see things that I forage included like mushrooms and while it's just basic advice to cook first and then freeze, she does mention that it's a good way to use foraged mushrooms and I'm always happy to see foraging acknowledged as a great way to source food. For other wild foods that are not included like gooseberries and elderberries, it's pretty easy to just treat them like similar foods.

I appreciated more detailed information about freezing like the steps for how to easily defrost your chest freezer, how to use frozen fruits in recipes where it may change the liquid and texture, and how to make the most of your freezers. I'd like to see more recipes but it's an excellent guide that will be especially helpful for those who are new to freezing.

(One tip that's not in this book but that I recommend is for blanching asparagus. We forage over 50 pounds of wild asparagus some years and freeze lots to use year round. After snapping off the woody ends, cut it into 1-2 inch sections and separate the tips and very thin pieces in one pile and thicker pieces in the second. Drop the thicker pieces in the boiling water first, give it a full minute, then add your tips and tiny pieces and then in another minute drain. This way you don't have mushy tips and everything is perfect for tossing into the pan for a quick minute to heat.)

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

Wish that I had this book when I was much younger and growing most of my own in my garden, it would have been most useful. There are many techniques for dealing with the glut produced by home propagation ,and the preserving of the crops to keep them in best order.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting book.

It covers 55 different foods with approximately a page on each. The book talks about how to best freeze each food. There's also information on two different ways to blanch vegetables for freezing and best freezer storage tips.

I was hoping for more recipes in this book. There's a few that look good that I'll likely try. This is a helpful book for meal prepping or getting the most out of your freezer space.