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? :-\ :-\
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.
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).
We dont bother and haven't keeled over yet
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.
I blanch my Parsnips as they stay in the freezer all year long, short term veggies should be OK. ;D
Tried blanching once - too much like hard work - everything seems to freeze ok without it.
I blanch everything that needs it because some of our stuff stays in the freezer for the year.
Quote from: non-stick on August 14, 2011, 23:00:11
We dont bother and haven't keeled over yet
We used to... at first... but haven't bothered for nearly two decades... ;D
It is supposed to preserve the colour and more importantly the nutrient value.
Quote from: shirlton on August 15, 2011, 07:50:00
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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.