How to Store Broccoli? Lots of ways!
Broccoli means ‘the flowering top of cabbage’ in Italian. This blog discusses how to store broccoli for a long time. It is therefore the closed flowers of the broccoli that we eat. Broccoli is related to cauliflower. But once bought, how can you store broccoli?
How to store broccoli? A lot of ways
- Store fresh broccoli in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
- Store fresh broccoli in a cup with water or wrapped in damp kitchen paper for 3-5 days.
- In the freezer, after blanching for 12 months.
- Cooked broccoli 2 days in the refrigerator, 3 months in the freezer.
Broccoli is a vegetable that combines well with many other ingredients and is used to make tasty dishes because broccoli is so versatile.
How to buy broccoli
How long you can store broccoli also depends on how fresh the broccoli is you bought in the supermarket. The broccoli is now shrink-wrapped. They are of course still available unpackaged at the greengrocer.
Broccoli must have a nice green color when you buy it. There should be no dark and certainly no yellow spots on it. This is the beginning of decay.
Also, feel for a moment whether the broccoli feels firm. It must have a solid structure and feel firm. Then it is fresh!
How to Store Broccoli?
Once at home, the question is; how and where should I store the broccoli to keep it fresh for as long as possible.
The first option is to place the broccoli in the kitchen on, for example, the fruit bowl. This is one possibility. Then leave the broccoli in the foil but make a few holes in it so that it can ventilate. You cannot keep the broccoli for long, at most 2 days and then it turns yellow and starts to feel limp.
There is another option that extends the shelf life.
Store Broccoli in the Refrigerator
Keep the broccoli in the refrigerator and you will extend the shelf life. To do this, first, remove the foil from the broccoli. Then put the broccoli in a plastic bag and leave it open. Do not seal the bag. Broccoli needs ventilation.
The best place to store the broccoli in the refrigerator is the vegetable drawer. Place the open bag of broccoli here. You can use this method of storage if you want to use broccoli within 3 days.
Before use, check whether the broccoli is still fresh. It should feel firm and the florets should not be yellow.
Store Broccoli in Water
Another method of refrigerating broccoli is like a bunch of flowers!
Remove the whole broccoli from the plastic wrap and place a layer of water in a bowl or cup. Then cut a piece off the bottom of the broccoli stem and place the broccoli in the cup with a layer of water.
Now place the cup on a shelf in the refrigerator. You can keep the broccoli fresh for about 3-5 days in this way. It is important that the water is changed every day to keep the broccoli fresh for as long as possible.
This method only takes up a lot of space in the refrigerator. If you don’t have this space, you may be able to use the following method.
Store Broccoli in Kitchen Paper
This method takes up less space in the refrigerator and the broccoli stays fresh for a long time. You do need a plant sprayer for this!
First, cut the broccoli florets off the stem and put them together on a few sheets of kitchen paper. Now spray the florets with a mist of water from the plant sprayer. Don’t get them too wet, as they could rot again. So do not rinse under the tap.
Also Read this: Is broccoli good for you?
Then cover it with kitchen paper again and place it on a dish in the refrigerator. You can also store broccoli in this way for 3-5 days.
You can also eat the stem of the broccoli. We in the Netherlands tend to throw them away. When you put the trunk in the refrigerator and cut it small while preparing the broccoli, you can simply take it with you in your dish.
Freezing broccoli
If you want to store the broccoli for a longer period of time, you can do that very well in the freezer. It is not advisable to put the whole broccoli in the freezer immediately. This way, dirt, and any bacteria are also frozen. It takes a few steps before we can freeze broccoli.
Blanch broccoli
Blanching is the brief cooking (2 to 3 minutes) of broccoli which, in this case, goes into the freezer. The broccoli will then retain its flavor better after thawing and any pests and bacteria will be killed.
First, cut the florets from the stem of the broccoli. Try to make the florets the same size. Prepare a pan with cold water and add a few ice cubes. If you don’t have ice cubes, put your colander ready in the sink.
Then place a pan with water on the heat source and bring the water to a boil. When the water boils, the broccoli florets go into the pan with boiling water. Now boil the florets for only 2-3 minutes. This is called blanching.
Remove the broccoli from the pan and put it in the pan with ice water or drain the broccoli in the colander and rinse the broccoli well under a cold tap. This is done because the broccoli does not cook any further. When the broccoli has cooled, place it on a few paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Then dry the broccoli.
As a final step, the balanced broccoli is placed in a freezer bag and placed in the freezer. You can store the broccoli for at least 12 months.
Tip: Write the date of packaging on a sticker that you stick to the freezer bag. This will prevent you from cooking broccoli whose taste is no longer optimal. If necessary, write the shelf life of 12 months on it.
Store cooked broccoli
We can also store cooked or prepared broccoli well. This can be done in the refrigerator or in the freezer. However, the storage time depends on the other ingredients used.
The most vulnerable ingredient then determines the length of the shelf life.
In general, you can store prepared or cooked broccoli in a closed container in the refrigerator for 2 days.
You can store cooked or prepared broccoli in a closed container for 3 months in the freezer.
Broccoli Not Good Anymore
Even though you did everything right, the broccoli may no longer be good. How can you see this then?
We use our senses to determine whether the broccoli is no longer good.
- See if it looks fresh. Does it still have the right color? Is it green and not yellowish?
- Smell if the broccoli is not sour because then it is no longer good.
- Feel if the broccoli still has the ‘body’
- And as a final test. Is the taste still good?
If in doubt, don’t take any chances and throw away the broccoli.
