The summer between freshman and sophomore year in university, I had a seasonal job in the Bird's Eye frozen foods processing plant. Specifically, I worked the asparagus harvest. I was tried at many stations -- the cutting room (ooh, now that was a scary place, the things I saw!), the steam blancher, sorting and packing, and finally, where I spent the bulk of my employment there, I was the single quality control person for the overnight shift of the asparagus.
Yes, you read that right, this 19 year-old version of me was in complete charge of quality control for half of that plant's asparagus harvest (the other half was manned by someone on the day shift). My supervisor came around, once per week, to watch me work for all of 10 minutes. I can scarcely believe that the quality of a food product would be at the mercy of a university student. But that's how these operations work.
My job entailed checking all the boxes for things that didn't belong, weighing and adjusting the amounts for each box, and removing any asparagus which had obviously gotten stuck in a crack in the steam blancher for several hours. You could say I got a crash course in preparing asparagus for freezing, that summer, long ago.
Fast forward to today, I did not lose my taste for asparagus that year, and I enjoy eating my fill each spring, and freezing several pounds for meals later. I have my own "system" for the preparation and packing of asparagus. I froze about 4 pounds last week, enough for 6 meals.
I begin the day that I bring the asparagus home from the market. I place all the spears upright in a container with water, cover with a plastic bag and store in the fridge, until I can get to it, usually within one day.
I do all this in parts, assembly line fashion. I use: 1 9 X 11-inch baking dish for rinsing asparagus, cutting board and knife, 1 large pot of water, 1 mesh strainer, 1 colander in an ice water bath, 1 spare dinner plate for draining, 1 dinner plate covered with a tea towel for blotting, a slotted scoop, plastic bags, a drinking straw
I fill a 9 X 11-inch baker half full with water, and rinse the spears, laying down, removing stray strands of grass.
If the spears have portions of white still on them, I trim these off. You can snap the spears, or cut. I find cutting to be simpler. If I come across a spear that feels tough to cut, I simply cut higher up the spear until it feels tender.
I save these scraps of trimmings in a container in the freezer, for making stock later.
I cut the spears in half, on the diagonal (it looks prettier that way, and camouflages the tips from the ends, just a bit).
Meanwhile, I prepare my blanch and cooling stations. I fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
I fill a large bowl with ice water, and set a colander in the water.
I place a dinner plate next to the ice water bath, for draining.
I set another plate out and cover with a dish towel (for blotting). And I keep a supply of bags handy for filling.
When the water has come to a boil, I fill a mesh strainer with trimmed and halved asparagus spears, and immerse in the boiling water for 30 seconds. I use the same timing method my mother always used. I count briskly, 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi, etc to 30 Mississippi. This approximates 30 seconds, and doesn't require me to fuss with a timer.
I quickly pull the strainer out of the boiling water, and use a slotted spoon to scoop any stray spears into the strainer.
I dump the contents into the ice water bath/colander set-up. This quick-cools the asparagus so that it doesn't continue cooking.
When the asparagus is cooled (I swish it around the ice water for a minute or two with my hand), I pull the colander out of the water and set on the plate to drain.
Once drained, I unload the contents onto the dish towel, to further blot.
I, then, fill small bags with the blanched pieces,
and set these bags in the fridge, as I go, unsealed, to begin the chilling process.
When I have finished blanching, cooling, filling bags with all the asparagus, I use a drinking straw to suck the air out of each bag, and seal it shut. This is poor man's vacuum sealing.
I separate all the sealed bags in the freezer, to insure rapid freezing. Once all are frozen solid, I pack them together in a large freezer bag.
It should be noted, if you want crisp-tender asparagus, you'll need to eat it fresh. Frozen asparagus loses some of its original texture. But I enjoy this frozen asparagus in dishes like chicken (or ham) and asparagus crepes in cream sauce, or, asparagus, rice and chicken bake, or, thawed and marinated in vinaigrette to add to salads. If you find that you don't enjoy the texture of frozen asparagus, then my next favorite way to use it is pureed in cream of asparagus soup.
Just a favorite way to save some of spring's freshness.
