As one who enjoys both cooking and gardening, blanching vegetables is something I do a lot of at the end of every summer. I plant far too many vegetables, way more than my family can possibly eat fresh. Blanching them provides me with a freezer full of vegetables that we eat during the long winter. These taste far better than store-bought frozen or canned vegetables ever could!

When freezing certain fresh vegetables, such as green beans, peas, asparagus, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower, it's essential to blanche them first. Blanching is an easy technique of boiling the vegetables briefly and then immediately chilling them in ice.

WHY BLANCHE?

Blanching fresh vegetables before storing them in the freezer preserves their color, flavor and texture. Blanching slows the enzyme action that can cause frozen vegetables to deteriorate and lose nutrients and taste. Vegetables frozen without blanching are still safe to use, but there is a significant loss of quality, particularly if they're stored longer than a few months.

Another benefit of blanching is that it slightly shrinks the vegetables, so they take up less room in your freezer.

HOW TO BLANCHE

Blanching fresh vegetables is fairly easy, and doesn't take a lot of time. The blanching method most cooks use is the boiling water one. The microwave oven can also be used, but vegetable discoloration and off flavors sometimes occur. I recommend sticking with the boiling water method for best results.

Fill a big pot with water and heat it on high until boiling. While it heats, fill a large bowl with ice and water. Wash the vegetables, but wait to cut them up into evenly sized pieces until the water is boiling and ready.

Drop vegetables into the boiling water. Blanching time will depend on the vegetable. Cook peas and pea pods for 1-1/2 minutes; asparagus and diced carrots, two minutes; green beans, broccoli and cauliflower florets, three minutes; brussel sprouts and whole carrots, five minutes.

When the vegetables have cooked for the required amount of time, quickly transfer them into the ice water to stop them from cooking further. When they're cooled, I like to spread them out on a cookie sheet and place it in the freezer. After about an hour I place them into Ziplock freezer bags. Freezing them on the cookie sheet first keeps the vegetables from sticking together in the storage bag.

Blanching vegetables is a simple and quick method to preserve the quality of your fresh vegetables. Believe me, you really can taste the difference!

Learn more about this author, Julia Williams.
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