socks, I freeze zucchini for bread every year. I grate the raw zucchini in 2 cup amounts in ziplock bags and freeze it and when I want to make a batch of bread I just thaw a bag and dump it in, liquid and all. I figure the 2 cups my recipe calls for includes that liquid in the first place, so in it goes.

I've also squeezed the moisture out of grated zucchini and used it to make a type of zucchini pancake, courtesy of Sol.

I don't peel or blanch or do anything except wash the stuff, grate it and put it in bags.

Annie

socks, zukes/summer squash past 7" often have a pithy center which gets scooped out for the chickens and the rest gets shredded via the Cuisinart. I prefer steaming for a few minutes, cooling on large platters and then packing into 1 or two cup portions. These packets are stored in half gallon paper milk cartons and stacked like bricks in the freezer. Besides breads and pancakes, these shreds add bulk to soups and stews.

Next experiment will be freezing grilled zukes. I make these using a soy/garlic/sesame oil/lemon juice marinade.

What Annie said!
They become mush when frozen in slices.

Years ago my mom used to pressure can them....you can just imagine...blech!

Deanna

I slice ours lengthwise, brush with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper, and grill them over charcoal until they are almost done--at the still firm when poked with a fork stage. Then I cool them and stack them in freezer containers with waxed paper between the stacks. I can pull out as many as I need, then return the container to the freezer. I also put them, still frozen, directly into the oven at 350 and by the time they are thawed they are finished cooking and quite tasty.

Yum, marlingardener, that sounds really good. I suppose it's much like the green tomatoes that I just slice and freeze. If I fry them still frozen they're really good, if I thaw them first, they are mush.

Deanna, I can't imagine pressure canning them, they'd be spoonable!

As mentioned, I do remove the center with any large seeds if they've gotten huge, but I usually can catch them before they become monsters and just grate them all. I used a salad shooter for years, now I use the food processor.

Annie

They are too mushy and since I'm not crazy about zucchini bread, I don't freeze them. I had rather use my freezer space for other things. Just depends on your priorities for your freezer space.

That said, Annie you must have several freezers with all of that beef plus a garden.

Beverly, I have two freezers. One is allocated for beef, pork and an occasional duck (or 30, ahem). One is for things that I can't successfully can or don't care for canned, but it's mostly fruit. Strawberries, sweet cherries, peaches, asparagus, butternut squash, asparagus, rhubarb, slices of green tomato, basil/pesto and bread crumbs get the space in the second freezer.

I'm just about embarrassed to say that Elery just bought a freezer too, LOL, because he just loves the sweet cherries and he wants to hunt this year, he's hoping for some venison.

Oh, and we still need freezer room for fresh fish when we go fishing. Right now we have salmon and walleye, but I'm hoping for some lake perch.

Annie

Socks,
Another one here that grates fresh zucchini and freezes as Annie described. I also put smaller 1-cup portions in the freezer and regularly add them to savory dishes like veggie chili, chicken enchiladas suizas, pasta sauces and soups.

Ann

OK--thank you, every one!

Wow! I would never have guessed you could freeze them! That's why I love this place - I'm always learning something from all of you.

Annie, do you know what is in the bottom of each of those freezers? Just joking. I wouldn't if they were mine.

I would also consider dehydrating them.

dcarch

dcarch, I dehydrate slices for soups, which is why I don't bother to freeze portions in suitable amounts to add to soup.

Beverly, I know what's at the bottom of one, I just cleaned it. The other one? Who knows.....

Oh, and they are both chest type freezers, so that adds to the fun.

Annie

Annie, I'd hate to think what would happen if your power goes out.

I wish I could grow zucchini. I did for a year or two, then the squash vine borers found me, and I haven't been able to successfully grow them since. That, and I've run out of room in my garden with enough sun, and tomatoes trump zucchini in the garden every time.

Sally

I can't grow them either but I have a very nice neighbor who supplies me in the summertime. Sometimes he is too nice lol! Glad I know I can freeze some now instead of eating zucchini at every meal for a couple of months.

Year 'round I can buy young zucchini at the Farmer's Market. With that, the freezer space is too valuable to use for squash!

For those of you who can't grow zucchini, first, we who do thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Without you as recipients of our "largesse" we would be knee deep in squash.
Secondly, you can grow zucchini. If space is a problem, there are bush types that don't take up a huge amount of space--Ambassador and Eight Ball being two of them. If borers are a problem, plant later in the season. The moth that lays the eggs which become borers arrives in spring, and has a short time in the garden. If there is no squash for the moth, you don't get the borers.
Now I've gone and told all you folks how to grow squash, so the squash growers will be mad at me.

Space isn't the issue. Zucchini isn't salt tolerant. So I can't grow it!

I was going to ask a similar question and since it hasn't been addressed, here goes. Can you freeze stuffed zucchini? If I can, should I bake it first or freeze it raw? Recipe calls for two zucchini but between us, one would be enough for a meal. Maybe I should just get one zucchini and freeze the rest of the filling 'til next time. What do you think?

patti, I think it depends on what you fill it with. I wouldn't hesitate to freeze zucchini, but the stuffing ingredients might be somethng else.

Sally, thankfully, I've only once had power go off long enough to cause a problem. Most power outages here are in the winter, which is a real problem because then we don't have any heat, but food can be stuck outside in a snowbank and it's fine.

When we move out to the farm, we'll be in a electrical "co-op" and the power tends to go out more often and stay off for longer periods. I'll buy a generator then.

Annie

I don't think that anyone mentioned that the bigger ones freeze better that the small juicy ones since the flesh is firmer/older.