CHILL : CHILL CHILL OUT: GIVING FRUITS AND VEGGIES THE DEEP FREEZE.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Daily News Food Editor

A friend has given you a gigantic bag of peaches.

Or your garden is prolific with zucchini and overflowing with tomatoes.

Or the plums and nectarines at the local farmers market were just too luscious to pass up.

No matter what the circumstance, you're overwhelmed with the bounty of fruits and vegetables and need help preserving the wonderful harvest.

Chill out - literally. Freezing is the fastest and easiest way to keep fruits and vegetables for the cooler days and months ahead. Other than plastic freezer bags or rigid containers and ascorbic acid, you won't need any special equipment. And even when time is at a premium, freezing is a manageable task.

As you'll notice on the fruit and vegetable charts featured today, we've kept freezing procedures simple. For instance, using a sugar syrup is a big nuisance, and only a few of the fruits in the chart specify that option.

Jerry Di Vecchio, food and entertainment editor for Sunset magazine in Menlo Park, Calif., recommends sprinkling each pint of fruit with 3 to 4 tablespoons of sugar. This not only enhances the flavor, but allows you to store the frozen fruit much longer - up to a year, compared with only three to six months for unsweetened fruit.

``Although fruits can be frozen without sugar, sugar helps preserve the flavor,'' she said.

For the best results, Di Vecchio also recommends using airtight freezer bags rather than rigid containers so you can press out all the excess air.

Fruits also can be frozen on trays, individually or in pieces, before packing in bags or containers. For example, peach or nectarine slices can be frozen on a baking sheet after they have been dipped in a lemon juice and water mixture to prevent darkening.

When it comes to most vegetables, blanching is the key to avoiding flavor and texture changes in the freezer, Di Vecchio said. To blanch, plunge vegetables briefly into a large pot of boiling water to deactivate enzymes and retard spoilage (but be careful not to cook the vegetables), then place in cold or ice water to stop the cooking process. A pasta or other perforated basket makes the process easy, Di Vecchio said.

When they're completely cool, drain the vegetables well on absorbent paper towels and freeze in a single layer on a tray. Then turn the frozen vegetables into a freezer bag or container, leaving 1/2 to 1 inch headspace.

Vegetables also can be blanched in a microwave oven on high power. In a 1-quart, round glass microwave-safe casserole, place 1/4 cup water and 2 cups prepared raw vegetables. Cover with plastic wrap and follow the timing specified on the vegetable freezing chart. Larger amounts can be microwave-blanched but will require more time.

Here are other basic tips to produce flavorful results when you use your home-frozen fruits and vegetables.

Select unblemished, firm-ripe fruits and treat with antidarkening agent, if needed. Remember that color, flavor and texture change more rapidly when fruit is frozen unsweetened than when packed with sugar or in a sugar syrup. Berries and figs are the best candidates for packing unsweetened.

To pack fruits with sugar, simply sprinkle it over the prepared fruit and gently mix until the sugar dissolves and the fruit releases its juices.

To pack fruits in a sugar syrup, use 1/2 to 2/3 cup syrup for each pint of fruit. For a 40 percent sugar syrup (used for most fruits), dissolve 3 cups of sugar in 4 cups hot or cold water or fruit juice (be sure to chill syrup, if using hot water before adding to fruit). This yields 5 1/2 cups of syrup. For a thinner, 30 percent syrup used on more delicate fruits, combine 1 cup sugar and 4 cups water or fruit juice to yield 4 3/4 cups. Pack the whole or cut-up fruit in containers and cover with the cold sugar syrup.

To keep nectarines, peaches, apricots and other oxidizing fruits from darkening, use ascorbic acid or agents such as Ever-Fresh sold in the canning-supply section of your supermarket. Lemon juice or citric acid can also be used, but may make the fruits too tart because larger quantities are required. Ascorbic acid can be dissolved in sugar syrup, water or mixed well with sugar and the fruit. When using Ever-Fresh, follow the directions on the product label.

To allow room for expansion during freezing, leave 1/2 to 1 inch headspace (if specified on the chart) when packing fruits in freezer bags or containers.

For best results, pick and freeze vegetables at peak maturity.

Blanch vegetables according to times recommended on the chart. Overblanching will result in lost color, flavor and nutritive values; underblanching will allow continued enzyme activity, resulting in a poor-quality product.

Leave 1/2 inch headspace for vegetables packed in freezer bags (press out as much air as possible) or 1-pint containers and about 1 inch headspace for vegetables packed in quart containers.

Be sure to label and date fruits and vegetables and freeze immediately. There's nothing more frustrating than guessing what's in a package and trying to remember how long ago you put it in the freezer.

Maximum freezing time for fruits and vegetables ranges from six to 12 months, depending on your freezer. Be sure your freezer maintains a temperature of 0 degrees F. Fruits and vegetables can't be frozen as long in refrigerator-freezer combination units as in stand-alone freezer units. Keep in mind that fruits and vegetables lose quality faster in frost-free freezers, so plan to use them up in a timely fashion.

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, Box

Drawing: (Color) no caption (Penguin)

Illustration b y Perry Perez/Daily News

Box: FREEZING VEGETABLES