Blind Tasting FRESH vs FROZEN Ingredients 3
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- čas přidán 11. 06. 2024
- There are so many different journeys our food goes on until it lands on our plates, so today, we’re seeing if the normals can tell fresh and frozen food products apart in a good, old-fashioned blind taste-test!
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Ben says “I’m going to bone at the weekend” and not a single giggle. What’s the world coming to?
I noticed… I started looking for others who did too in the comments section.
The Benuendos have finally broken the boys lol
I thought he said he was going to Beaune.
They're desensitized to them at this point
Right? 😂😂😂I am holding out hope for a Strip Poker Face game, at the end of the month.🤣🤣🤣
I regularly use frozen chopped ginger instead of fresh because I found I just wasnt using the fresh frequently enough to keep it from going off. Really helped me manage food waste.
So handy to have huh? And it's always fresh!
@@SortedFood it's my best friend when I'm making a big batch of butter chicken
On the other end of the spectrum, I used to work with someone that, basically every dish they cook starts with garlic and ginger. So, they would spend an hour every couple weeks grating / chopping ginger and garlic, and freezing it in ice cube trays, to save on cleanup time for weeknight meals.
That was the thing that surprised me that Ebbers said. That if you're using it all the time, you might want the convenience to save yourself time. But if I'm using it all the time (and I do), I'd rather have the fresh stuff. When I used to not use garlic very often, I'd keep a jar of crushed garlic in the fridge. Now I use it all the time, so I keep a fair bit of garlic. It might take an extra minute every day, but I know I'm using it often enough to make keeping the fresh stuff worthwhile.
Mum and aunties still every yr buy and process kilos of fresh local ginger, garlic and chillies when in season to freeze and last the year. Homemade convenience is the best of both worlds
i'd love a video where the chefs unleash all their knowledge about frozen food-what can be frozen, how, thawing, etc. would really help combat food waste!
Love this idea, I’ll pass your comment onto the production team :)
Hayley @ Team Sorted
I love this idea
Also anything adjacent to that. "These normally fresh ingredients can be dried or stored in such a way that they last longer."
I'll repeat my comment, as I only saw this comment after leaving my previous one and I am really curious about the team testing it!
I heard that since the fish is flash frozen after being caught, the taste difference should be up to the thawing process. I think it would play into the idea perfectly!
Possible episode idea? Best way to store ingredients. Left out on the counter, put in the pantry (dark dry place), or fridge/freezer. I'm talking like a half onion, used bulb of garlic, Cilantro/coriander, ECT. The reason I'm asking is because I see the use of, let's say cilantro, that's in water on the back counter, is it better than throwing it in the crisper in a damp (I had to retype this into my phone 3 times so I wasn't using a bad word 🙄) paper towel? Which lasts longer? Those types of questions.
I'd love this. Storage is so tricky
Yes please!! Spices, grains, different fruit!! Does the "crisper " drawer do anything??
So much waste
second this!!!
Yes, yes, yes!
My wife started taking our herbs (even before we use them from the store), wrapping the stems in a paper towel and sticking that into a mason jar with 1-2 inches of water in the fridge. They seem to last longer.
I don’t know a single channel on CZcams that puts out a similar amount of quality content as you guys. The number of videos you guys upload is CRAZY. And they’re all great. Impressive stuff.
You must not watch a lot of cooking shows.
@@bochapman1058 Imagine taking time out of your day to leave a negative comment on someone complimenting others.
@@footy_vision someone had a different opinion than yours, and you took that personally.
@@jmwintenn Opinion where? They made an assumption.
what I love about them is they make exclusive paid content on their website but still pump out free stuff on youtube with the same quality for broke peeps like me
Frozen avocados are amazing for creating that ice cream texture in smoothie/frozen yogurt bowls! I highly recommend chucking some in with some frozen mango, frozen peach/pineapple, frozen spinach and some coconut milk 🍨
Exactly what I was thinking... might look for some frozen avocado on the weekend
I agree but you can't put it in a salad. Gauc and smoothies only. Sainsburys do that brand or Delmonte have bought it out recently, got some last week in Iceland and it was 2 bags for £4.00 for the same amount per bag
@@rundeep1969 I wouldn't even do guac with it. It just has a bland taste and the texture is wrong. For smoothies I can see, as it is blended and has the vitamins you want.
My first thought on seeing it was it'd be great for smoothies and ice creams
I tasted a vegan chocolate ice cream once where they had used avocado for creamy texture and it was very good!
Would love to see a twist on this where you start with fresh stuff, freeze some in a typical household freezer, and then compare the use of the home-frozen vs the fresh.
Exactly what I wanted to see. The same stuff frozen at home.
An interesting test. Especially considering the way the squid turned out since one would think the two versions would have used similar quality squid given both came from the same company.
It would be very useful to see what is worth freezing at home due to less powerful slower consumer refrigeration.
There is so many layers that could be done to this too. Like using a Ziploc bag vs vacuum seal. Personally, I only vacuum seal all of my meats now because I feel like they get freezer burned way too fast.
@@nanoflower1 what we would need is the squid to be deforsted under the same conditions as the "fresh squid" is
I have MS and use frozen garlic regularly both to save energy with my fatigue and because nerve damage in my hands means my knife skills aren't as good.
A good low effort meal that I keep all of the ingredients in for is fake fried rice/noodles. Pinch of frozen chili, onion, garlic + some oil in a bowl and microwave for a minute. Add some frozen peas, lardons, prawns, ect depending on what you fancy. Then microwave some packet rice or noodles and mix them in with soy sauce and maybe some chilli paste.
It's not authentic and you could certainly make something nicer with more time and effort but it hits the spot and is better than most microwave meals 🤷🏻♂️
I have fibromyalgia and id love to see Sorted do an episode on kitchen objects/tools/hacks for disabled people!
2 seconds in and I'm already laughing at the little octopus saying "Ebbers" in a goofy voice!
I started growing my own garlic 2 years ago. I keep about 30 heads per year for eating and replant the rest. They last about a year when well stored and cost almost nothing after the first year. I highly recommend them as they are low effort crops
That’s amazing, thanks for sharing 😁
How are you storing garlic, so it last so long?
@@everoarke3078 you have to properly cure them first. After that, I keep them in the storage room under my stairs, away from light and where a dehumidifier is keeping relatively low humidity and keeps air circulating. Some varieties also store better than others. Basically kept right next to my onions and my canned goods, I keep them in those mesh vegetable bags my local farmer market was selling.
I used to store them in a cupboard and they would go bad within a few months.
@@ugosmith7529how do we cut them the best way?
@@ugosmith7529 To add to this, as someone who has also grown garlic previously (unfortunately cannot at the moment), a wicker hamper basket is perfect for storing properly cured garlic for a good 9+ months (especially larger softneck varieties). I tend to also throw my onions and shallots in there with them too. Also always remember to leave 1-1.5 inches of stem as well, to stop the environment getting in under the papers for best results.
Good luck to anyone else wanting to grow garlic themselves, just remember to make sure you like the smell of garlic if you plan on growing it really close to your living spaces, like a window box etc., it carries really well in an early summer breeze leading up to harvest.
"I've blindfolded you and given you a fork, why aren't you finding the plate without issue???" - Ben
I mean that’s not what happened but whatever
@@animalsmistakenformonsters1492 ... They're blindfolded, they have a fork, and then Ben got annoyed that they weren't immediately finding the food. What video did you watch?
I tend to buy things in bulk. Carrots, onions, celery, peppers. I chop them up and freeze them. That way I have it and it does save money because I use it all without having waste.
Excellent prepping skills 👏
When I was in the starving, pre starving student mode of life, the grocer closest to my house, sold 2.5-kilo packages of flash frozen squid steaks, for $2.49. So, it was the least expensive protein available and I developed a large group of recipes to use it. While I was going to school, the foodies discovered calamari, and the price went up to $12.49/lb.
That had to suck 🙁. It seems to happen quite often. My parents still get upset over the price of ribs because they said many years ago ribs were a lot cheaper and lower income families could afford them. Then, they became trendy and the prices went up.
I heard rumors the same thing happened with quinoa and avocado, but I'm not sure.
@@thenovicenovelist It has happened to quite a few things, quinoa and avocado for sure. But also corn meal much which transmuted into polenta. Precooked corn meal in the tube, was $0.89 for a sixteen-ounce tube, then the foodies discovered polenta, and it got relabeled and went to $2.89 for a 12-ounce pack. Ribs, and hamburger both used to be inexpensive working-class foods. In the seventies, a bunch of recipes were published to help folks cook nutritious meals using them during the first big economic downturn since WWII. Next things you knew the price for both had doubled. Portabella mushrooms, which the farmers in France developed recipes for, because it is the same mushroom as a cremini, but has grown too large to sell in French markets. So, being frugal farmers, they developed a whole bunch of recipes for them. And, the foodies discovered them, and now they cost more than the smaller, more tender cremini.
I miss those days. When I graduated college in the 90s, the absolute CHEAPEST proteins in the local megamart was octopus and brisket. I couldn't even buy canned tuna that cheap.
@@thenovicenovelist, quinoa has always been expensive because of harvesting and processing is quite laborious. I can't even afford it now.
@@randallthomas5207
Ox tails, cow tongue, chicken wings all used to be dirt cheap. Now, I can't afford tongue, oxtail is always sold out. Chicken wings, I can get a big bag, frozen, on sale now and then though
I worked in a culinary university storeroom for YEARS! We are in the US so I do have that advantage where avocado's are concerned. It is still a crap shoot what will be under the skin. Kind of like watermelon. I would take all my extra avocados, cut them in half, remove pit and skin, lemon juice, cryovac (vacuum seal) and freeze. Not diced. In half. You can also buy them that way from Sysco foodservice. It's a good product useable sliced on salads as a fresh presentation.
it would be interesting to see a third option in this series, where sorted buy and freeze the fresh ingredient as a comparison to production-frozen foods
I see alot of chefs don't use measuring cups or spoons. I would like to see the guys put in a bowl what they think is a cup three quarter cup etc. Then measure and see how close they are. Same with measuring spoons. They might be surprised😉
It's important to mention that things like the pre-chopped garlic are really useful for people with mobility issues and other issues that make the process of chopping (especially a fine dice) difficult.
Definitely! 👏
Yes, I have nerve issues in my hands and use a lot of tricks to avoid knives wherever I can (or forceful tools like a garlic press/crushing garlic etc). I freeze bags of whole peeled garlic cloves (storebought) and then grate them on a microplane into my finished dishes. They grate in a couple of seconds when they're frozen, and that way they haven't really lost much to the freezing process. Every disability is different and this works for me!
This, it’s why I use the frozen pre-chopped ones. Often they’re the difference between cooking or not cooking (I love garlic very much)
Definitely. Because of that I brought my blind garlic-loving mother some. But she was so confused as in Germany we normally use a press. She was definitely not impressed 😅
@@romanakipper7713 different disabilities, different needs! I can’t really use or clean a garlic press, but I’d def prefer one if I could.
Frozen avocado is used similarly to frozen fruit: you wouldn’t use it as is, but blitz it up or cook it down (like a jam)
The frozen avocado touches on something very important: availability.
In Middle Tennessee, I'm not going to get fresh squid (or any salt-water seafood), unless I buy fresh-frozen.
I've never bought a decent avocado, either.
So, if the choice becomes having frozen, or doing without, if I want it, I have to settle for frozen.
I love avocado, so I think I'll look for frozen now.
Availability versus quality.
For decades, though, I've been convinced that frozen is often fresher than "fresh", but miles above canned.
I live in SW Missouri and can get pretty great avocados all year long. Sure, I might need to let them ripen a bit, but always available here.
I think the Avo would be fine in any sort of actual cooking. Mixed with other ingredients it's going to do well, alone on toast it's probably not worth it. This coming from an Australian who has access to great quality fresh all year round though, frozen Avo might not even exist over here.
USA we get frozen garlic and ginger in little trays. it comes as a paste in the shape of dice. it works well, especially the ginger.
NICE 👌
We have that here in the UK too, pack of around 40 for £1.25
I buy them both fresh and freeze them. Ginger is absolutely fine; garlic really changes because the cell walls are destroyed by home freezing, although that's less relevant for paste. It's better than month-old "fresh" garlic, but nowhere near as good as fresh.
I freeze my own garlic and it's laughably simple. Just take the cloves from the bulb without peeling them and chuck them in a ziplock bag and put in the freezer. Whenever you need garlic, just take out the number of cloves you want and chop or grate them. As a bonus, they peel much easier after being frozen. They also thaw really quickly, so there's no issue with grating or chopping them almost right out of the freezer.
This way I can buy fresh garlic in bulk and always have some on hand.
I do the same but peel it in bulk while listening to a podcast and freeze the whole cloves.
me and my father regularly use frozen fish instead of fresh because we found it always ends up getting a more consistent product in the end. it has made our family really happy with out fish stews!
Frozen fish is an excellent buy, nice work Daniel! 👏
@@SortedFood Thanks guys! 🫡🫡
Almost all supermarkets and fish stores that show "fresh" fish, is just fish that has been thawed. That's why it says not to re-freeze. So frozen CAN be better, if you get quality.
We freeze all our fish, a vacuum sealer makes a world of difference. I’m lucky to live in a coastal region so we get a lot of fresh seafood, only things I can confidently say don’t freeze well is lobster and molluscs, like clams and mussels.
I enjoy using the frozen avocados for smoothies. From the freezer right to the blender. I also use frozen avocado in my avocado bread recipe. It is quick, inonly take out what I need, no waste. For things like avocado toast, avacado crema, salads, tacos, and gaucamole 🥑 I prefer fresh avocados. A little citrus juice spritz keeps them from oxidizing. When the avocado is a textural component of a dish a fresh avocado gives the texture I want.
Living in California I never realized how blessed I am to be able to buy good avocados off the side of the road, straight from the growers!😮
Same in Miami! I can just take a walk and pluck one off a tree! Same with mangos! You don’t even have to pay for them people are just giving them away because our mangos grow faster than anyone can eat them!
Definitely the same here in Texas. I buy avocados every week.
It's fascinating to me because many of these are just not sold frozen in California. I've never seen frozen herbs anywhere and frozen garlic only in warehouse stores. I've never seen a frozen avocado in my life either, though I could see the benefit there because they do brown quickly.
Incidentally, I've also lived in the Midwest. These ingredients are treated more to as a luxury there, but I don't recall seeing them frozen there either.
Yup, you’re very blessed to have this on your doorstep 😋
I have avocados weekly as well, maybe a little pricier in Northern CA. But I remember traveling to Ojai and passing orchard after orchard of avocado trees.
A tip for the garlic hack we did at the kitchen I worked; put fresh garlic cloves in a paco jet container, fill the gaps with olive oil and let the machine blend it, then freeze. Now you have delicious frozen garlic paste and in my opinion the olive oil keeps the garlic flavor better when freezing. When you need it just put it back in the paco jet and mix. If you don’t have one you can do the same with a mixer and smaller containers.
We so thia but we mince rhe gaelic and keep it in thw fridge and it stays good for a really long tine
That paco will forever smell of garlic, did you have dedicated containers and blenders because you'll be having eu de garlic sorbet otherwise 😅😂
So for science, garlic flavors come from allicen. Its released when cell walls are damaged. It starts to "degrade" in flavor, from the rather sharp, pointy and "spicey" garlic flavor, to a more mild, rounded and softer garlic flavor. You CANNOT get the first version preserved. But in a lot of cases, frozen or prepared garlic will have similar flavors and are generally more flexible for new cooks. Fresh garlic makes it really easy to overpower a dish. I think this is where the "it says 1 clove finely chopped so I add half the tin of garlic" comes from. 2 vastly different flavor profiles from 1 ingredient.
I like how you started with a simple aglio e olio, rather than something more complicated. That's one of my favorite go-to pastas in the spring & summer.
16:02
Jamie: "A does not look like I expected it to"
Mike: "Neither do I "😂
Idea for a video: Macdonald's Ingredients ONLY Battle | But can a Chef Tell?
Feed it to Ben 🤣
That would be fun 😂
I think can a normal tell would be funnier. Make Ben and Kush have to cook with McDonald's ingredients
I love this idea. Especially after the way Ben reacted to the crew's attempt at making him eat a Big Mac a while ago.
I disagree. If he doesn't want to eat something, he shouldn't be tricked into doing so.
Where I come from, herbs in supermarkets come in dirt-filled pots rather than bags. So you can just plant them if you have a space to put them. Some of the more delicate ones might still die but resilient herbs like mint and parsley can be pretty easily grown on your balcony from those pots and they can be 3-4 times their original size by the end of the growing season.
If you do it right, the mint will be 3 - 4 times the size in a few weeks!
@@bobd2659 Not with weekly Mojitos! xD
On my sixth floor, windy, balcony, practically no plant taller than a few centimetres survives, resilient or not.
@@TheYannir Buy each week and plant a little! In 2 or 3 months of doing that your liver won't be able to take the amount of mojito's needed to keep the mint trimmed! (So you'll have to invite many friends over...MANY...friends...)
a tip for this. those pots have usually been crammed way too full to grow fully. if you take each stem/plant and put it in a pot of its own you'll get much more success without half of them dying because they're fighting for root space.
Great VT as always love these ones fun and educational. "Limp Af" quote of the day.
My dyslexia made me read "French vs Frozen". I was immediately intrigued.
That's basicly "Hibernatus" with Luis De Funes
Simple does not mean easy. There’s nowhere for flaws to hide in a simple dish, such as avocado toast. If you’re using frozen, then I would make it into guacamole or as a fat substitute in certain dishes. My main takeaway from all of this is that fresh vs frozen really boils down to dish vs dish.
I love frozen veggies, they really dont deserve the bad rep. Been saving me in the winter for years now. (Merci, Picard 😅)
Frozen fruit and veg is awesome. Always fresh and ready to go :)
@@SortedFoodNowhere near as nice as fresh
@@John-ed2wj but much better than none at all. Most places don't grow veg all year long
@@deedrole5296 obviously.
Same here, I live in Canada so from January to April fresh veggies tend to be ugly and outrageously expensive. Frozen veggies are usually nicer than what we get in supermarkets and a lot cheaper too.
In Colorado USA, fresh garlic grows really well and easy, I’ve been using homegrown garlic for nearly a decade now.
NICE 👌
The frozen avocado was bland, needed seasoning, was mushy and slimy - so just regular avocado then 😂
My Mom would do it half and half, especially when cooking for a crowd or for leftovers. She would get some fresh and some frozen, best of both worlds.
Love your uploads. It makes for a great break in my day. Thanks guys. Love from Canada 🇨🇦
Worth noting that there’s a bit of weight lost from the skin and core of garlic so while more expensive, frozen might not be that more expensive
It really bugged me that he said we weighed it out precisely except for all the stuff. Why even say that.
Here’s a tip when preparing squid… Make a marinade by processing a kiwi (peel and all) in a food processor. Marinade the squid for about 10 minutes, then wash the squid thoroughly to remove all the kiwi. There is an enzyme in the kiwi that breaks down that chewiness so you get a better texture. Be careful though, if you overdo it, it will become too soft.
Frozen avacado exhibits traits found in frozen marinated steak. If you freeze banana, it browns, if you freeze steak, bursting ice cells tenderizes throughout. Marinating the steak first helps ensure enough ice is generated.
My local fruit shop (here in Australia) has little pre-packaged trays of naked garlic that's fairly cheap. I go through a fair bit of garlic throughout a week, and for about $2.50, I get a week's worth of garlic for fried rice, pasta, and all sorts of other stuff, and I never have to peel it. I throw some little naked garlic cloves on the chopping board, smash it with the side of my chinese cleaver, and give it a quick chop through. Any loss in flavour is fairly mild, and I always use extra anyway because I love garlic.
A classic example of 'fingers are in, we're ready to eat'.
I think the frozen cubed avocado would be good for smothies.
Could do a fresh vs frozen vs tinned video!
yes!! especially since frozen and tinned are (supposed to be) enviromentaly better.
I always love these comparisons. They are so informative every time.
💯 % need to do a vid. 5 comparisons of frozen/fresh (or similar) where 2 dishes are entirely the same to check the placebo effect of knowing theres a difference
Glad Mike and Jamie are such close friends cause Jamie is over there biting the spaghetti in his mouth off and letting noodles fall back in the bowl. 😂😂
Jamie eating spaghetti is genuinely one of my favourite things of watching Sorted through the years.
He put so much into his mouth 😂
Our family will actually buy garlic bulbs when they are in season locally, peel them all, freeze them as whole cubes, and grind them throughout the year so we have homemade fresh garlic paste. I also dry and freeze herbs from fresh. So perhaps a good comparison would be home frozen products versus store bought. And by products, I mean items like herbs and ginger and such.
Love Yall!!! Keep up the great work!!
Absolutely love these. I've had more inspiration to help myself as a single cook on what to buy and not to buy from these episodes than any other!
18:55 grateful to live in California where Avocados are readily available 🥑🥑🥑
Ohhh you should do this with fresh vs almost ending up in the bin.
And also show what the ingrediënt looked like when you used it
looks like mike forgot the trick the chef with frozen food episode where barry mentioned this exact thing about frozen garlic
Now fingers are in, and we are ready to eat 😅
Hilariously, I was sitting here eating fresh avocado and roast chicken on toast while watching this. As a South African in South Africa, I am always glad to be blessed with relatively inexpensive and high quality avocados (5 huge fresh avos for maybe £2?). While i was in the UK, I really did notice that a very large portion of fresh produce was quite costly and also rather disappointing in terms of quality. It is true that this has a lot to do with the climate and the fact that it has to be imported.
There was, however, a really noticeable jump in quality of things like butter, milk, beef, herbs, potatoes and berries. Also, you have rhubarb - we don't have that at all. UK beef is amazing stuff.
Also, another thing that I found to be not so great in the UK was olive oil and wine - maybe that's me being biased (I live in an area known for fruit orchards, wine and olives). Maybe having fresher produce produced really locally made a big difference?
I'm so intrigued by the frozen avocados! I think of frozen vegetables as something you can throw into a cooked dish without defrosting (spinach into a stew, peppers into a hash...) and I think of avocado as mostly a raw garnish. (I live in southern California so maybe I'm spoiled, but I had a similar experience when I was working for a fast-casual chain in the Midwest that relied on having dozens of good avocados on hand every day, and I don't know how comparable that is to the UK versus SoCal in terms of supply chains!) I'm immediately curious how the frozen ones would fare in something like a guacamole, but the adjustment of thinking of vegetables as something to thaw and use raw is a huge adjustment either way.
11:00 Wait... what?!
For the squid, I think a fried preparation would have been a better choice for comparison.
Jarlic can be pretty good
I am sooo excited to finally watch a live event! Can’t wait
For Garlic: Can we get a comparison between fresh/frozen & like a homemade(or bought, or both) garlic paste? I personally always make a garlic paste at home cuz it stores waaay longer than fresh garlic and I find it better than letting fresh one go bad or buy frozen (didn't even know that existed tbh).
& for Pasley: How about freeze-dried? I personally prefer that over everything (fresh go bad too fast, froozen is meh for garnish and I hate it stuck on my fingers/equitment) and I find the quality of freeze dried is quite nice while a glass/refill pack prise wise is also okayish
One thing I must complement these guys on, is how spot on and to the point these videos are.
I clicked on this 20 minute video expecting them to start doing it maybe 6 minutes in, but no - they immediately jumped into the taste testing.
This channel is motivated me to do cooking tysm
I have tried frozen avacado chunks. They almost tasted banana essence, but mashed in guacamole it was good.
I boil my water and then freeze it, so anytime I need boiling water I can just pop it in the pan and get cooking quickly.
Another GREAT and informative video, but I wish you guys had made guacamole instead of Avocado toast. Feels like a missed opportunity.
I hope Jamie makes a video of his experiment, very curious. Keep up the amazing and informing content!
A huge factor with frozen avocado and quite a few other things (lychees come to mind) is the botanical variety that is grown. We're used to the varieties grown in Australia but the frozen avocado and lychees are either what is predominantly grown overseas or specifically for freezing so the taste, texture, fragrance etc is often different
I have a tube of garlic paste kept in the fridge for those ‘just in case’ moments. To my horror, I once squeezed a great dollop of Savlon antiseptic- also kept in the fridge - into my spaghetti bol. Only realised when my (now ex) husband threw up.
I think you should throw some curveballs as well in there. Use the same ingredients in both and see if anyone is able to identify it
Ginger (blitzed in the mini chopper), celery (chopped), hard Italian cheese (grated), batches of cookie dough (balled up into single-cookie balls), and sandwich toppings (in week-appropriate portions) are things I keep in the freezer because as someone who lives alone I will not finish a whole package before it goes off and I refuse to throw away food. And avoiding food waste aside, who doesn’t love to be able to bake off a couple of fresh cookies with only the effort of turning on the oven at any day of the week? 🍪
A garlic hack: just make a garlic and olive oil mix - I do it once a monthish. Get 5-6 whole garlic, start a Sorted food video while peeling, whack it in a mini chopper, cover will EVOO, put in one of those Ikea tiny jars and ta-da - prepped garlic that wont burn when dolloped into a pan hot from sweating off the onions, no flavor loss as it is "lost" into the oil itself, and so efficient.
Frozen avocado? No. Frozen guacamole? Yes.
Ooh!! I’m early! I’ve watched you guys for years and now use the app and I’m never early! 🤣
Love this concept! I wonder if there's a difference if the food was fresh then frozen by someone at home (which I'm sure everyone has done)
I think there will be a substantial difference, as flash freezing (as the ones you buy at the store) causes less cellular damage compared to slowly freezing something, making things frozen at home more mushy.
Freezing leftover/bulk ingredients saves me a lot of money and food waste. I freeze chunks of fresh ginger (microplane straight from frozen), lemon wedges, leftover celery leaves for soup, anchovy fillets, cubes of leftover tinned coconut milk. The trick is often in the way it's prepped for freezing. Great video!
Excellent content as always, boys.
I tend to use frozen garlic a ton, but that's because ~I~ freeze it. Almost always roasted though and smashed into a paste once it's soft. (Do the same thing with ginger, minus the roasting - sometimes adding a pinch of sugar because the little grit helps smoosh it smoother before it melts. That and I almost always HAVE a bit of sugar in ginger things, so might as well get a head of it. Same reason I'll make stem ginger, softer and already sweet for things like stirfrys and quick meals.)
I would be interested to know if the frozen avocados make a decent avocado smoothie, because there, you're mostly after the texture, and it can be further flavored. Definitely wouldn't use them in a plain avocado toast situation though.
It's currently avocado season in South Africa, which Ben briefly mentioned as having some of the best in the world - I didn't realise how fortunate I am to be able to enjoy 1 to 2 fresh avos a week! Where I live in KwaZulu-Natal, our avocado trees thrive in the coastal bush (as do the mango, litchi, and paw-paw trees which are in season at different times of the year). We buy our avocados from a lady who sells them outside of the grocery store closest to our office - she does a roaring trade since hers are some of the best butter-pears* in Durban and she knows exactly when to pick them. Most of us in Durban buy our avocados in this manner - particularly from the side of the southern coastal National Route where you can pull your car over every 200m or so to buy fresh fruit, which is cheaper than grocery stores but still very fairly priced as this is a source of income for these ladies and their families. *We call them 'butter-pears' here since they are enormous and creamy!!!
In Brazil we very commonly use avocado to do smoothies, and I think the frozen ones would be very good at that
Keep it up! Love this stuff.
I am a single person, and don't have time to shop daily, so I almost always buy frozen vegetables. They taste pretty much the same as frozen to me. Fish from the supermarket is usually defrosted: actually fresh fish from my local farmers' market tastes noticeably better.
I keep frozen avocado in the freezer to add to things like eggs in purgatory where its more of a component than the centerpiece and it works great
Could you do a test between frozen and tinned foods. A pass it on using canned meats like spam, corned beef, roast chicken in a can.
For me, the Avocados can stay on the tree. With Mikes slimy comment, that's how fresh avocados turn my mouth. I love fresh garlic to do the roasted bulb to spread on toast or dry biscuits (yes I'm an Ozzy)
One of the best things of living in the far North of New Zealand is the variety of unusual and exotic fruits and veg.
Green, gold and red Kiwis fruit aplenty, mandarins, oranges, avocado, tamarillo, feijoa, persimmon, cherimoya, pink pineapple, guava, ‘ice cream fruit’
So many…
I moved to the mountains of North Carolina (~4-5 hours from the ocean) a decade ago from Boston (~10 min from the ocean) and I've been craving squid for YEARS! All we have here is the frozen stuff, raw rings and tentacles, frozen breaded calamari rings, and NONE of it hits the spot like fresh seafood. I doubt the squid where I used to live came from the Boston area, but still, it's nice to have my foodie opinions confirmed.
With my family, we will actually buy peeled garlic from Costco, whack the whole thing in our food processor, and then portion it out into ziploc bags and freeze most of it. It does really well for our purposes and lasts us for ages. Yes, we're paying for the cloves being already peeled, but the rest of the processing is in our hands, including the freezing and storage.
For things like guacamole or for adding to smoothies I can see the use for the frozen avocado - anywhere you are adding lots of extra flavours or just using the avo for texture/a fat boost. My dad was keto for a while and made chocolate mousse with blended avocado and coco powder so I expect the frozen stuff would work well for this application too.
Love the flavor of fresh garlic but my stomach doesn't. The processed stuff is fine, and therefore always worth an extra cost
Mike and Jamie are like the older brothers who can be SO mature separately but just get ridiculously silly when they're together 😂
Thing is, if you like the frozen garlic, it really wouldn’t be difficult to buy the garlic fresh, and peel, chop, and freeze it. To have it available in manageable portions, what I’d do is spread the chopped garlic on parchment paper or a silicone sheet on a tray, freeze it, then crumble it into a freezer bag for storage.
A more in depth video testing the different types of garlic (powder, frozen, jarred, fresh, etc) in identically cooked dishes to compare results would be super cool along with Ben’s and Kush’s insights
I'm lucky enough to have a garden big enough to grow most herbs (mint, basil, thyme, rosemary, 3 types of sage, marjoram, oregano, a massive bay bush, parsley, dill, chives). Think the only common one I don't have is coriander (which is fine because its a vile disgusting soapy devil grass).
During the winter only the softer herbs die off (though the rosemary does get rather tough) so I only freeze a small handful of my favourites but I have found that the best way to freeze them is to stick them in a fridge between 2 sheets of kitchen roll and then freeze after 24-48 hours just to reduce the moisture level. Stops the herbs being damaged as much by the freezing process which can lead to those deeper bitter flavours. I've also found they don't do nearly as well if cooked in lots of fat (they burn very quickly and lose if not all of their flavour) but are also pretty terrible raw. Tend to use them like you would dried herbs from a supermarket. Add them at the same time you'd add stock or water to a saucy dish.
With the avocados going brown, I live in Australia so getting fresh ones isn't a big issue but having them go brown almost overnight still is. If you store them in water in the fridge it stops the oxygen getting in. Same works for left over guacamole, put it in a glass with a thin layer of water over the top (make sure it's all covered) and it will stay green for a couple of days because fat (avocado) and water don't mix.
I get constantly distracted with the tiiiiiny 'sorted sidekick' reflection in Ben's glasses 😂
I can see the frozen avocado having use when making smoothies. I don't particularly like the texture when I put ice in my smoothies (which very well may be my blender), but I think the avocado will do a very similar thing, but leave the smoothie less grainy. Also, this can make for a faster more convenient breakfast - whack it in a blender with other frozen or fresh fruits and anything else you may want and move on. No cutting board, no knife, just maybe a spoon (or just some clean hands!)
There are many areas (especially in the US) where you can't get fresh squid. Even frozen squid is hard to find in my area - usually have to spend a LOT to have it shipped in. Interestingly, I find your description of 'salsa verde' is very different than we use. Here, salsa verde is tomatillo/green chili mix. What you are using, I think we would call a chimichurri. I would love to find the frozen mix of this. Fresh herbs are quite expensive. For avocado, that we can get fresh and the frozen is only used for an avocado salsa or something like that where the texture isn't an issue. I just love to see the differences and similarities in the UK and US. You guys are awesome!
Frozen avocado is great for desserts or smoothies where you actually don't want the avocado flavour but the creaminess of it! Same for freezing coconut "milk" in cubes.