On the one hand, freezing food eliminates the need to frequently visit the store. On the other hand, quickly defrosting the same meat and fish without a microwave is quite problematic. They can thaw for up to 30 hours if everything is done according to the rules and the temperature is increased gradually. But what to do if you are running out of time to prepare a dish? After all, it is not always possible to predict cooking in advance.
Is it possible to freeze cottage cheese in the freezer: 5 ways
Freezing cottage cheese in a plastic container
- So, take a plastic container (it is advisable to freeze no more than 300-500 g of product in each, taking into account the fact that you will eat it at a time after defrosting).
- Place parchment paper or a paper towel in a container and place the crumbled cottage cheese in the container. Do not add the cottage cheese to the top, otherwise after freezing it will begin to push out the lid
- The container must be closed to prevent the product from weathering. Place a date sticker on the container containing the product and freeze it
In a plastic bag with a slide lock?
- Place the product in the bag and smooth it out. Level as evenly as possible. Please note that the thinner the layer of cottage cheese in the bag, the faster it will freeze and, accordingly, the less its taste will suffer.
- Close the bag after releasing all the air from it. Try to release all the air, since its presence in the bag will affect the taste of the defrosted product.
Release the air
- Now we label our product in the package and send it to be frozen
- The advantage of this method is that the product freezes and defrosts quickly; you can always break off a small piece from the overall piece.
- Disadvantages - the cottage cheese can become sticky and become saturated with the smell of the bag.
Freeze cottage cheese in foil or tissue
- If there is no plastic container or plastic bag with a zipper, and you need to freeze the cottage cheese urgently, use foil or a clean cloth.
- Wrap the required amount of product in cloth or foil and place it in the freezer, but keep in mind that in this form the cottage cheese is stored worse, and after defrosting it will not please you with its beautiful appearance (it may become grayish and more liquid ).
Can be frozen in tissue
Freeze cottage cheese in a glass container
- Fill the container with cottage cheese, but not to the top. Leave at least 1.5 cm of free space.
Don't fill it out completely
- Close the container with a lid - this is mandatory, because this way the product will not dry out.
- Label the container with cottage cheese and place it in the freezer.
- The advantages of this method are that the product retains its taste and consistency.
- Disadvantages - the container takes up a lot of space, you need to defrost the entire contents of the container at once, the cottage cheese will take a long time to freeze
Freeze the curd mass
- Frozen curd mass is very convenient, because in fact, in the freezer you have a ready-made dish that you just need to defrost and eat, or defrost and send to bake or fry.
You can make a variety of curd masses: beat the cottage cheese with sugar, eggs, add dried apricots, prunes or raisins, and chocolate chips to the mass. You can even immediately knead the dough and simply freeze the cheesecakes.
Mix
- Make the curd mass to taste, and then place it in a plastic bag with a zipper (as described earlier), a glass or plastic container, or in a foil container; in such a container you can even bake the dessert right away.
Can be frozen in the form in which we will bake
If you choose a bag, close it; if you choose containers, cover them with a lid; if you choose a foil container, wrap it tightly with cling film.
- Label the container with the mixture and send it to freeze.
You can choose any of these methods
Animal products
Dairy supplies defrost in the refrigerator for about four to five hours, and at room temperature - two to three hours.
It is better to start defrosting the fish two or three hours before cooking in a package at room temperature. In the refrigerator it needs to be defrosted according to the time: three hours for every half a kilo of supplies.
Meat and poultry can be defrosted in several ways:
- At room temperature. Defrosting a piece to a depth of one centimeter occurs in about two hours.
- In the refrigerator compartment. Defrosting a piece to a depth of one centimeter occurs in three to four hours. Or you can expect that for every pound of meat it takes five hours to completely defrost.
- In the oven. Defrosting a piece to a depth of one centimeter at a temperature of 50 C occurs in about half an hour.
- In the microwave. With this defrosting, the meat will warm up evenly in volume, and the defrosting time will be an order of magnitude shorter. However, the exact time depends on the characteristics of the microwave.
- In hot water. It is better to never use this method, since juices along with nutrients will be washed out of the meat/poultry.
You can cook meat (except pork) over low heat without defrosting by increasing the cooking time. Quick-frozen semi-finished meat products can be simultaneously defrosted and reheated in the oven at a temperature of 150-220 C or on a gas / electric stove. Portioned meat or poultry can be cooked immediately in the usual way, spending a little more time on bringing the food to readiness.
Delicious smooth cheese
You can make wonderful, delicious processed cheese from expired cottage cheese.
Cooking time – 2 hours.
Number of servings – 1.
Ingredients
To prepare processed cheese we will need:
- cottage cheese – 700 g;
- soda – 1 tsp;
- butter – 30 g;
- milk – 250 ml;
- salt – 1 tsp.
Cooking method
Cooking processed cheese is very simple.
- The cottage cheese is poured with milk and sent to the stove. It must be heated until whey forms.
- The colander is covered with gauze, folded in half. This is where the cottage cheese goes. It needs to be hung for about an hour so that all the serum drains away.
- The mass is poured into molds and cooled.
All that remains is to taste our delicious homemade processed cheese by cutting it into pieces.
If you didn’t have time to eat the cottage cheese or use it in any other way before the expiration date, and as a result the product has turned a little sour, but has not yet changed color or become moldy, do not rush to throw it away, because there are many recipes for sour cottage cheese.
How to defrost cottage cheese from the freezer?
The process of defrosting cottage cheese is no less important than the process of freezing cottage cheese. Only properly defrosted cottage cheese will retain its consistency and taste.
- If you want to immediately eat defrosted cottage cheese without heat treatment, be sure to defrost it in the refrigerator. The process will take at least 5-10 hours, depending on the weight of the product being defrosted.
Defrost in the refrigerator
- If you want to use the mass for cooking heat-treated dishes, you can defrost it indoors. This will take at least 3 hours.
- After the curd is defrosted, drain the settled water and whey.
- After defrosting, it is not recommended to eat a two-week product without heat treatment.
Now you know how to quickly and correctly freeze and defrost cottage cheese and semi-finished cottage cheese products. Take the advice received into your arsenal and then you will always have a tasty and healthy product in your home.
We recommend you useful articles from which you will learn how to cook correctly:
- Juicy khinkali
- Choux pastry
- Eggs Benedict
- Egg scramble
Is it possible to freeze pumpkin?
You can freeze pumpkin
cubes, grate or bake in the oven and
freeze
the puree.
... We cut off the tough skin from the baked pumpkin (now this is easy to do) and use a blender to turn the slices into a homogeneous puree. There is no need to add sugar, salt or other spices. Place the puree into portioned forms for freezing
.
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Taste and texture of defrosted cheese
What will we get as a result? Kefir cottage cheese in the freezer is more like cheese, which is made especially for children. This curd is not grainy, it resembles a soft, moist mass, light and tender. You can eat it once, as soon as all the ice in it has defrosted and drained. Sometimes such curd is crushed with sugar or berries or raisins are added to it if you want to eat the curd as sweet. But you can also add herbs, tomatoes or olives with nuts.
The creamy curd mass is already a ready-made filling for many dishes. Just take into account its soft texture. Perhaps, if it is one of the ingredients of the dough, you will have to add a little more flour or semolina. Fillings, sauces or creams, on the other hand, require fewer liquid and creamy ingredients so that their texture allows them to be absorbed but not leaked out of the dish.
Defrosting rules
It’s worth saying right away that fermented milk products should not be defrosted in emergency mode. In order to properly defrost this product, it needs to be transferred from the freezer to the refrigerator (preferably on the very last shelf) for 13-14 hours. After thawing the product, you can eat it. If the cottage cheese is intended for making cheesecakes or casseroles, it can be defrosted at temperatures up to + 22 degrees; the cottage cheese can be thawed at room temperature.
After the calcium source has completely thawed, it should be squeezed out of the liquid, since it does not contain any beneficial properties. If, after defrosting, the mass still has the same white tint, and a pleasant aroma emanates from it, this means that the requirements for freezing and thawing were fully met and the product is completely safe for human health.
Many people say that defrosting in the microwave can destroy all the nutrients in the product. Is it possible to defrost cottage cheese in the microwave? It is possible, but when defrosting a curd product, you must follow some rules that will help defrost the source of calcium and preserve all its nutrients to the maximum extent.
A piece of cottage cheese that has been defrosted properly in the microwave should remain cool but soft. You also need to know that this product should be defrosted at the minimum power of the microwave, as a rule, this is the “bread”, “seafood” or “fish” mode. It is worth specifying the exact weight of the piece so that the program can correctly calculate the defrosting time. Or you can try to set the defrosting time yourself.
The main thing to remember is that when defrosting cottage cheese, you need to systematically turn it over. This is done so that the piece warms up equally on all sides and thaws evenly.
What is this product?
Whey is a milk drink that is a by-product during the production of cottage cheese and cottage cheese. During their production, a liquid is formed, which is decanted and used for food.
This drink consists of 93% water. The rest of it is often made up of:
- calcium;
- protein;
- carbohydrates;
- lactobacilli;
- milk sugar;
- vitamins, etc.
The product is low-calorie, 100 grams contain only 20 kcal. The rich composition makes the drink very useful, helping to strengthen the body and saturate it with vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
In addition to being used as a food product, the serum can be used as a cosmetic product - to strengthen hair, whiten skin and treat sunburn.
How long can frozen cottage cheese be stored in the freezer?
- Freezing cottage cheese and semi-finished cottage cheese products is an excellent way out of the situation if the fresh product is not eaten on time or if there is an opportunity to stock up on a healthy product for the future. However, it is very important to know how long you can store cottage cheese in the freezer?
- It is acceptable to leave cottage cheese in the freezer for up to 1-2 months, but only if you froze it fresh and taking into account all the rules and recommendations.
- Curd semi-finished products can also be stored in the freezer for 2 weeks to 1 month.
Freezing Recommendations
The source of calcium and protein spoils quickly, within 3-5 days. With longer storage, pathogenic microflora intensively develops in the product, so it changes the taste, and when consumed, it can cause poisoning. In order not to harm your health, but also not to throw dairy products into the trash, you just need to freeze them correctly. The following tips will help with this:
- Any cottage cheese is suitable for freezing: store-bought or homemade, there is not much difference. The grain product must be as fresh as possible and not have a sour aroma or taste;
- You will need dishes made of glass, ceramics or food-grade plastic. An airtight lid is required; it will protect against oxygen and prevent moisture loss. Moreover, cottage cheese absorbs foreign odors well, so it must be isolated from other products even when frozen;
- When filling the dishes with product, you must leave a little (about 2 cm) free space on top. When frozen, products increase slightly in volume;
- the maximum useful qualities will be preserved in the curd if you use blast freezing at a temperature of -30 degrees. Complete freezing takes 4 to 6 hours.
- the frozen product is subsequently stored in the freezer at a temperature of -18-20 degrees.
The shelf life of frozen cottage cheese is up to 6 months; if other ingredients are added to it (raisins, dried apricots, chicken eggs), then the shelf life is reduced to 4 months. A product that has already been thawed cannot be re-frozen, so you need to take care in advance and package the products in small containers so that there is enough for exactly one time.
You can freeze not only the cottage cheese itself, but also semi-finished products based on it: cheesecakes, pancakes with cottage cheese filling, dumplings, casseroles.
