My overwintered greens had begun to bolt so it was time to pick them and put them up before they were reduced to spindly leaves and yellow blossoms. If you’ve never frozen greens, the hardest part traditionally is washing them but since mine are in raised beds and the bugs haven’t found them yet one good rinse was all it took. The rest is so simple it’s hardly worthy of a tutorial, but I figured a few photos and a simple description wouldn’t hurt.

Freezing Greens

1. Set a big pan of water on to boil.
2. Wash greens and get an ice bath ready in a big bowl.


3. Put as much greens in the boiling water as you can still stir and that will allow the water to return rapidly to the boil. Time from the second you get the greens under water and put the lid down–2 minutes.


4. Remove the blanched greens from the boiling water into the ice water bath. Let them cool in the bath as long as you blanched them–2 minutes. Do the rest of the greens in the same way, adding more water to the pan and more ice to the ice bath if needed.


5. Drain and pack in freezer containers or bags. Freeze.