It's always useful to know how to store any leftover soup or vegetable stock, regardless of whether you made a pot yourself or bought some at the shop. Soup is the ideal meal to prepare ahead of time, so it's important to learn how to store, defrost, and reheat it correctly. I'll outline the top strategies in this blog post for freezing or refrigerating soup to keep it fresher for longer.
Cooling down
Soup can be kept in a sealed container. Fill the container with soup if you intend to keep it in the refrigerator. Place that in an ice bath with a water level slightly below the lid. Before putting the container in the refrigerator, it must be absolutely cool.
Soup can also be kept in an appropriate, industry-recognized soup tub. Fill the tub with piping hot soup if you plan to employ this technique. Make sure the top has a 3–4 cm gap, then quickly cover it with the lid. Place there until completely cool using an ice bath. You can now either store this in the fridge or freezer.
Freezing soup containing pasta, milk or cream
When frozen, defrosted, and then reheated, pasta does not keep its shape well. It's recommended to cook the pasta separately and eliminate it from the soup if you intend to freeze a soup like Pasta e Fagioli. By doing this, you may freeze the soup and prevent any mushy pasta from forming when you later defrost it. The same is true with soft potatoes and rice. Similar to how defrosting milk or cream-based soups can cause the soup to separate, the texture can frequently become quite grainy. Although it won't be as impacted, coconut milk still might not be perfectly smooth.
Storing in glass jars
First, let the soup cool completely before placing it in the glass jar. This will stop the sudden temperature fluctuation that frequently breaks glass jars. It's also crucial how much you pour into a glass jar. Making ensuring the soup is filled 3 to 4 cm below the shoulder line is important because many glass jars have shoulders. This should prevent your glass jar from splitting when the soup grows. Use jars without shoulders instead, and only fill them up to 3 to 4 centimetres from the top. To get them both to the same temperature, put the soup jar into the refrigerator. Last but not least, secure the jar's lid loosely and try to leave some space between each glass container when storing the jars.