Freezing Juice

[jules88]

Can you freeze cucumber juice? I have oddles of cucumbers from my garden after making pickles for my family( and eating them raw). I don't want to waste them and all of our neighbors and friends have their fill of cucumbers. I thought that I could juice and freeze and use as needed. That way I could save lots by not having to buy cukes at crazy hight prices in the near future. Has anyone tried this? Does it work?

My last option is to give it to the food bank.

Thanks all,

I haven't been on here in a while, but am continuing to do raw and knew that this would be the place to get my answer.

[jevans]

There are a lot of debates regarding the freezing of juices. A lot of people freeze them in ice cube trays and plastic zip lock bags and claim they are good. The debate is whether or not you loose nutritional value. Nobody seems to be able to definitively say yes/no.

Some even question "why freeze them". It's not as if you want to save them for the winter since juice would take up a lot of room. Personally, I think it's like everything else... why not? It may lose some value but I really don't think it would be "bad". As far as freezing the cucumbers themselves, that wouldn't be a good idea. When they thawed they would me mushy.

[jules88]

Thanks for the reply! I thought they might loose some nutritional value. I wasn't going to freeze the whole cucumber, just the juice. It will probably take up alot of room, but at the moment I have the room so I think I will try it. I juice quite a lot so I don't think it will last through the winter, but however long it lasts will be fine with me. I was trying to prevent waste and hopefully save myself some money by not buying cukes when they are really expensive.
I was just wondering what other know/thought/heard. Any other replys would be appreciated.

[Mary Kay]

Of course you're going to lose some nutrition, but it's better than nothing. I agree with jevans. Why not throw some into a smoothie now and then in the winter. let us know how it tastes.

You can also save the pulp (juice the seeds separately though so they're not in the pulp) and if you also peel them when saving the pulp, you can make dehydrated flat breads using the pulp. So you'll be utilizing most of the cuke!

Finding the time to make the flatbreads is key. These freeze well though too once they're dehydrated.

HTH,

Mary Kay

[jules88]

Thanks so much!! I will have to try the flat bread. Any suggestions on where to get the recipe? Or, do you have one that you use regularly?

[Mary Kay]

You can find sev'l recipes on this site alone, and many call for zucchini --however, you could sub the cuke instead. Here's one that I'll bet was kind of based on one of Russell James' flatbread recipes. I copied for my own files and I'm afraid I didn't get the author! I probably got it from RFT though:

Recipe Raw Almond Bread Mild and Soft Almond Bread

Makes 18 ’slices’

1/2c olive oil
1c dried sweet potato chips
3c almond pulp, leftover from making almond milk
1c flax meal
2 small zucchini and 2 small yellow squash, peeled and chopped
2 apples, cored and roughly chopped
3T lemon juice
1t salt

Combine everything except the flax meal in the food processor and process till smooth.
Put in a large bowl and stir in flax meal. Place back in processor, half of the batter at a time, and process till smooth.
Divide batter in half and place on two trays with teflex. Spread to cover the whole sheet, and score with a knife to make 9 slices on each sheet.
Dehydrate at 140 degrees for one hour, flip onto a mesh sheet, and continue dehydrating at 105 degrees for another 8 hours. It should still be soft.
Store in the freezer and remove slices as needed. They thaw very quickly.
******************************

And then here's one by Russell James. This one's famous! He also has a nut-free version. Again sub cukes for zukes....

Mediterranean Almond Bread

For the Bread:
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, loosely packed
3 Cup Almond Flour*
1 Cup Flax Meal
3 Medium Courgettes (zucchini), peeled & roughly chopped
2 Apples, cored and roughly chopped
3 TB Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Salt
3 TB Herbs De Provence or herbs of your choice
2 TB Marjoram or herbs of your choice

You might notice a slight diff with the cukes in the more plain almond bread at top, but Russell's has so many other flavors in it, I'd bet you wouldn't notice much of a diff.

HTH,

Mary Kay

[damandamn68]

Yeah Ive heard that it loses some nutritonal value but it definately will still do your body some good. Or cut them up and put lemon and tajin sweet/spicy powder and munch as a good snack!