Blanching Vegetables for Long-Term Storage
Blanching is a method of cook vegetables and preserving them for later use. Blanching vegetables include boiling the vegetables in water and then immediately placing the vegetables into ice water. Vegetables contains enzymes that cause the vegetables to lose there color, flavor, and texture over time.
These enzymes remains active in the freezer, so it is necessary to deactivate these enzyme through blanching vegetables prior to freezing them. If the vegetables are not blanched prior to freezing them, the vegetables will eventually become soft or gray in color when they are frozen. To properly Blanch vegetables, there are specific steps that must be followed to prepare the vegetables for blanching.
How to Blanch Vegetables for Freezing
First, you will prepare the vegetables to be even sized pieces. These even sized vegetables will ensure that each vegetable cook at the same rate. If vegetables are of even-sized pieces, the smaller vegetables will overcook compared to the largerer pieces of vegetables.
Examples of even-sized vegetables include broccoli florets that are approximately one and a half inch in diameter, and green bean that are one inch in length. To blanch the vegetables, a large pot of water is required. One gallon of boiling water will be used for every one pound of vegetables that are to be blanched.
One tablespoon of salt should be added to the boiling water prior to adding the vegetables. The salt help the vegetables retain there color. The water must be brought to a rolling boil prior to adding the prepared vegetables.
Once you add the vegetables to the boiling water, a timer should be started. The length of time that the vegetables will be boiled in the boiling water will depend upon the type of vegetable that is being prepared and the density of those vegetables. Leafy vegetables, such as spinach and snow peas, will require a short period of blanching due to the fact that leaf vegetables will cook quick.
Denser vegetables, such as Brussels sprouts and corn on the cob, will require more time to blanch to allow for the vegetables to cook through to the center. If the vegetables are blanched for too short of a time, the enzymes will not be deactivated. However, if the vegetables are blanched for too long, the vegetables will become overcooked.
Once the vegetables have boiled for the appropriate length of time according to the type and density of vegetables, the cook will remove the vegetables from the boiling water and place them into an ice bath. The ice bath will consist of half ice and half water. Furthermore, the ice bath must be large enough for the vegetables to move freely in the ice water.
The vegetables will be placed into the ice bath for the same length of time that they were boiled in the boiling water. This process is referred to as shocking the vegetables. Shocking the vegetables will immediately stop the blanching process of the vegetables so that they dont become overcooked.
After shocking the vegetables, the vegetables will need to be dried. Once the vegetables are shocked in the ice water, the water will be drained from the vegetables. Furthermore, the vegetables should be patted dry with clean kitchen towels.
Once the vegetables are dry, they should be spread out on a tray and frozen flat. Freezing the vegetables flat will prevent the vegetables from becoming one solid block of vegetables when they are frozen. Furthermore, freezing the vegetables flat will make it more easier to portion the vegetables.
Once the vegetables are frozen flat, they can be placed into freezer bags. You will squeeze the air out of the bags before the vegetables are placed into the freezer and the bags are labeled with the date that the vegetables were blanched. Blanching vegetables allow for the vegetables to be preserved for eight to twelve month.
Furthermore, if properly blanched, vegetables will retain there nutritional value throughout the winter months. However, if the vegetables are not properly blanched or if they are overcrowded in the pot of boiling water, the vegetables will lose there quality. Thus, to prepare vegetables this way, it is necessary to follow the steps, timing, and temperature requirements for blanching vegetables in order to ensure that the vegetables retain there high quality for long-term storage.