To blanch or not to blanch?

[binley100]

I blanch unless I'm using it up very quickly

What everything ? .......

[Ananke]

Choccy how did your experiment go?

I have decided I won't be blanching anything this year, I just won't have the time.

[lottie dolly]

I never blanch things,they fine,i steam mine,things in chunks like parsips,squash,i tend to defrost first,so all things cook together,beetroot i DO cook first then defrost as needed,cauli well have had mixed results both ways,still needs work,when i get some caulie's

[Potstubsdustbins]

I never blanch. SWMBO won't let me in the kitchen.

Seriously though I do know that my lady has tried it every which way with runners and for the last *** years blanching is a definite no no. They are cut, washed and frozen, when we need some they are put in a pan of cold water and bought to the boil whilst she to plates up the other food. Very close to fresh would be my opinion.

Colin

[Kestrel]

Just did a little taste test with french beans.
Blanched some (1min) and froze
Left some un-blanched and froze
Later I cooked 3 lots. As above plush fresh beans for comparison

The fresh beans tasted best (of course) but took significantly longer to cook to "squeeky" (5mins)
1 min blanched then cooked from frozen (about 90secs) were a decent texture
Un-blanched were marginally less tasty than blanched but still OK.

The best texture of the frozen ones were an accidental batch. No more room for open freezing tray so I put a blanched batch in the fridge while waiting and froze them later

What matters most, I think, is freezing time. This is not always possible to change but the smaller (thinner) beans that were already cooled before freezing were the best of all those that were frozen. This meant they could freeze quickly as they were already cold at the middle.

Cooking from frozen also needs less time than fresh beans as the freezing has already softened the texture - you only need to 'melt' them and 'warm them up'

For what it's worth here's what I will now do.
1. Sort the thinner beans for freezing, Eat the fatter ones fresh.
2. Blanch by steaming for 1 min, (not boiling, so the water is not cooled by adding the beans and can be reused indefinitely)
3. Plunge in ice water
4. Put in fridge for half an hour
5. Open freeze
6. Put in bags and label

Phew - that sounds like a faff - but actually steaming is less faffy than boiling when doing a large amount. The only difference to 'normal' blanching is the fridge.

Now... Sweetcorn...