Mixed Vegetable Salad (Provided photo — Yvona Fast)

Whether you garden and freeze autumn’s harvest or shop at the supermarket, you probably have frozen food on hand. It’s convenient — you don’t have to wash and chop it. But it wasn’t always this way.

Inuit and Eskimo people have been freezing food for millennia, made possible by sub-zero temperatures. Archaeological evidence of ice houses used for refrigeration in warmer climates dates back as early as 1780 BC.

In the 1800s the Industrial Revolution brought advances in technology. One of the earliest commercial freezing operations was in Sydney, Australia. Australian meat was frozen and shipped to England. In America, the first patent for frozen fish was given in 1862.

At the time, meat, fish and fruit were frozen in large blocks. The process took a long time. The result was tasteless, dry and leaked water when defrosted. Frozen food developed a bad reputation.

Then came Clarence Frank Birdseye II (1886 – 1956). While working in Labrador, Canada in the early 1900s, he observed how the Inuit flash-froze fish. When pulled out of the water, fish froze immediately when they hit the frigid air. When the fish was cooked, its flavor and texture were perfectly preserved. He also learned how the Inuit preserved vegetables by placing them in tubs and buckets of ice water and flash-freezing.

Returning home, Birdseye opened the General Seafood Corporation, his first frozen foods company, in 1923. By the summer of 1927, he froze 1.6 million pounds of seafood. Later, he experimented with peas, which stayed bright green when first blanched, then fast-frozen. In 1929, the frozen food industry had begun in earnest.

Packaging was as important as preparation. It had to be waterproof, and eliminate air pockets. Birdseye convinced DuPont to create a waterproof version of cellophane — and plastic wraps became so common that today almost everything we buy comes wrapped in plastic. It is essential in maintaining the quality of frozen food.

But technology had yet to catch up. In 1927, there were no trucks equipped to transport frozen food. Warehouses couldn’t store frozen food. Grocery stores did not have large-scale freezers to store it.

By 1929, Birds Eye corporation was in full swing, freezing and storing meat, fish, veggies and berries. They called their products “frosted food” to sell them to people wary of frozen food. It promised fresh-tasting vegetables out of season, fresh-tasting seafood in the center of the country, and convenience.

Birds Eye created 168 patents for freezing, packaging, freezer paper and other inventions, many of which are still used today in modern freezing.

By the 1940s, frozen foods were available in supermarkets. In the 1950s, frozen dinners were born. The 1960s saw a rise in frozen convenience foods as more women entered the workforce. By the 1970s, home freezers became affordable and widespread. Today, frozen foods are an integral part of most Americans’ diet and the frozen foods industry nets about $240 billion annually.

2 cups diced carrots (frozen; or fresh, shredded)

2 cups frozen cut green beans

1 or 2 stalks celery, sliced thin

3 tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt

Early in the day, remove vegetables from freezer, thaw, and drain. Or, steam very briefly, just to thaw.

Peel and dice the onion. Chop the pickle.

Combine thawed or steamed vegetables in bowl with onion, celery and pickle.

In small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, mustard and yogurt. Fold into vegetables in bowl.

Chop the parsley and fold in. Taste, and adjust seasonings. Serve.

Steam vegetables or cook in minimum of water until desired tenderness. Stir butter into hot vegetables; add minced garlic, fresh chopped basil, salt and pepper to taste. Serve right away.

Note: You can buy these already frozen together, or separately.

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