Food - Drink
How Long Hardy Greens Like Kale & Spinach Will Last In The Freezer
By LENA BECK
When you buy fresh hardy greens, you’re suddenly up against the clock trying to use them before they turn into a wilted, slimy mess. While there are ways to eek a few days of use out of your fresh greens, freezing is a great way to drastically extend their lifespan so you always have greens on hand for a smoothie, pasta dish, or casserole.
While fresh hardy greens such as spinach, kale, mustard greens, and beet greens, only last one or two weeks, when frozen they can last for eight months, meaning you can easily add some healthy greens into whatever dish you’d like. However, you can’t simply toss a bag of fresh spinach into the freezer, and there’s an important step you can’t skip.
The most important part of freezing your hardy greens is to blanch them until the stems are wilted and then give them an ice bath. Blanching not only cleans your greens, it also stops the enzyme activity that eventually breaks them down, so without blanching the quality and lifespan of your hardy greens will quickly decrease, even when frozen.