Frozen Fried Okra

This freezing method makes fried okra super convenient for fast and easy meals just about any time - ready for skillet or fryer.

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Rinse and cut okra into wheels. Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute after the water returns to a boil. Plunge into ice water to stop cooking. Pat dry.

Dip in buttermilk. Then dip in cornmeal seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Lay the prepared wheels on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes to set the crust. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before placing in freeezer bags.

Freezing Whole Okra

Prepare okra for freezing whole by rinsing, then group similar sizes. Blanch pods in boiling water for 3 minutes. The time starts when the water returns to a boil. Plunge the okra into ice water. Pat dry - removing as much moisture as possible. Bag and seal in freezer bags or other appropriate containers. Label and date.

An old timer told us that large pods are still good to eat if your finger can press in on their side. If it's too hard to budge with finger pressure it might be good for seed.

Four Factors Effecting Food Storage

Temperature

has more to do with how long well dried foods store than any other factor. The USDA found seed storage life to double for each 10.08F drop in temperature. Obvious limits exist, but common sense leads one to believe this rule holds true from room temperature down to freezing. The inverse of this rule also holds true with each 10.08F rise in temperature seed storage life is halved. Of course, this applies to other seeds as well.

This chart illustrates constant storage temperature (F) and the corresponding storage life in years. This does not apply to all foods, but is intended to show the relationship temperature has on food storage.

39.76 - - - 40
49.84 - - - 30
59.92 - - - 20
70.00 - - - 10
80.08 - - - 5
90.16 - - - 2.5
100.24 - - 1.25

If you store your food in a warm area, it will only last a fraction of the time if stored in a cool area even if you package food with the very best storage methods. Storing food at 60 degrees F or lower will provide you very good food storage life. An environment of changing temperatures will shorten storage life.

We currently have an average temperature of 80F so we must rotate our stored foods more quickly to avoid spoilage and loss.

Product Moisture

USDA nutritional tables show that dry beans, grains, and flours contain an average of 10% moisture. It is not necessary to remove all moisture but food should be stored as dry as possible. Foods with excess moisture can spoil.

Take care when using dry ice to pack food since ambient moisture condenses and freezes on the outer surface of the dry ice. Long term grain storage should have a moisture content of 10% or less. Food dehydrators are not capable of sufficiently drying foods for long term storage. Foods with 10% moisture levels will crisply snap when bent. Dehydrator foods are leathery and will not store well long term.

Storage Atmosphere

Air contains oxygen which oxidizes foods and promotes bacterial growth which causing food to go rancid. Here are a couple of professional approaches to removing oxygen.

DISPLACE OXYGEN: Purge out all the air with an inert gas. Nitrogen is almost always used because it is very inert. Carbon dioxide is also inert. People often use dry ice - which works pretty well.

ABSORB OXYGEN: Oxygen absorber packets offer a high tech approach. Air contains about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and about 1% other gasses. When the oxygen is absorbed, what remains is about 99% pure nitrogen.

Storage containers need to be strong enough to withstand a slight vacuum when using the oxygen absorber packets. If the container is not air tight the packets will be defeated by incoming oxygen which must be absorbed and in time the storage container will no longer be oxygen free.

Storage Container
Containers need to be air tight.

#10 Cans lined with enamel are air tight and prevent rust from forming.

Sealable food storage buckets - Manufacturer studies show an extremely small amount of air transfer through bucket lids - an amount so small it can be said to be hermetically sealed. Sealable food plastic drums. Be sure containers used are made from food grade material or you will have tainted food.