to blanch or not to blanch?

[diggerrick]

having lots of surplus veg that i have been freezing ,should i blanch it before freezing? i have eaten carrots and runner beans that have been just frozen from fresh without blanching,they taste fine!so why blanch them is there really any need,what do you do? :-\ :-\

[diggerrick]

[grannyjanny]

We had the last of the runner beans from 2 years ago with lunch, they were lovely. I didn't blanch them. Some do some don't ;D.

[taurus]

As far as I have been told the reason for blanching is to deal with harmfull emzines and helps to preserve food better.  But I also freeze for short term without blanching an haven't come to any harm so far (touch wood).

[non-stick]

We dont bother and haven't keeled over yet

[queenbee]

There are several veg that I do not freeze because they are too watery, Cauliflower is one of them. I have been tempted to dry freeze them but all the books say that you should par boil them. You have convinced me . I will try freezing without boiling. I will also try french beans.

[cornykev]

I blanch my Parsnips as they stay in the freezer all year long, short term veggies should be OK.   ;D

[Alex133]

Tried blanching once - too much like hard work - everything seems to freeze ok without it.

[shirlton]

I blanch everything that needs it because some of our stuff stays in the freezer for the year.

[saddad]

We dont bother and haven't keeled over yet

We used to... at first... but haven't bothered for nearly two decades...  ;D

[shirlton]

It is supposed to preserve the colour and more importantly the nutrient value.

[pg]

It is supposed to preserve the colour and more importantly the nutrient value.

Read up on this and it seems most of a frozen vegetables vitamin C content will have gone after 6 months if you don't blanch.

But blanching is such a faff - it's not so much the quick in & out of the boiling water, it's the cooling down quick with iced water. Which if you're doing a lot of veggies then you'll need a lot of icecubes. Which I never have much space for.

Perhaps buying in a large bag of icecubes from the supermarket or wine shop would be an easier way to go if you want to blanch.

[Ellen K]

Apparently, blanching kills the enzymes in the plant that convert sugars to starch (so I have read).

I blanched the sweetcorn cobs last year before freezing and they retained their sweetness a treat.

A neighbour didn't and said that the sweetcorn she served on Christmas Day was so starchy she had to remove it from the table.

So for a few things, it may be worth doing but it isn't half a faff.  I did the broad beans this year as they can become very starchy so it will be interesting to see if it improves them any.

[artichoke]

Well. I have tried not blanching, and the result has tasted like smelly wet hay.

I believe in scalding whatever you are about to freeze, then cooling it in cold water. Not too difficult?

[kt.]

I have done both, and the blanched stuff was inedible when we came to use it. Didn't even bother to cook it, just straight in the bin.  A lottie colleague said yesterday he never blanches anything now.  Freezer technology of today works well enough to do the job.  Don't think i will blanch again though I will take on board Denbys comments on the sweetcorn.

[busy_lizzie]

Interesting reading, as I hate blanching stuff it is so time consuming. After reading all the comments will give it a go not to blanch. Will save me so much time.

I did make jam with lots of excess plums that I had just bagged and put into the freezer, and it was fine. Probably do the same this year as I am going to have a big glut.  busy_lizzie

[chriscross1966]

I think the blanching advice dates from an era when freezers were only just a bit below zero.... mine stays at -18 all the time and stuff freezes in there in minutes.... I've found that green beans, broad beans, peas and sweetcorn (both on and off the cob) will keep for nearly a year without a problem (that's as long as I've had the stuff to check with rather than I've found that it goes off after a year...)

chrisc

[Digeroo]

It is very difficult comparing sweetcorn from different people.  Perhaps the starchy sweet corn was starchy when it went in.  I must give it a go I have lots of sweet corn at the mo.

[Duke Ellington]

I have an electric steamer so I just put my veg in the steamer basket for a few mins. it's a less hassle than boiling water etc.