Why blanching vegetables for freezing

Blanch and Freeze Fresh Vegetables. By: Hilah Johnson. Video Transcript Hi. I'm going to go ahead and get my water boiling. Great and you just want to press all the air out. You may also like. Sea Vegetables. Sprouts and Sprouting. Choosing and Storing Tofu. Co-ops support organic. Discover more about delicious organic food and its environmental benefits.

Learn more about fair trade and the benefits it provides to both producers and their communities. Find out more about food labeling issues. For every pound of vegetables, use at least one gallon of water to blanch them in. Leafy green vegetables require twice as much water — so two gallons of water for every one pound of leafy green. Before blanching, wash vegetables and remove the peels or skins if desired. If you plan on freezing your vegetables sliced, chopped or cut, do this before blanching.

When the water is boiling, just add the vegetables to the pot and cover tightly. The water should return to boiling within a minute of adding the vegetables. As soon as water returns to a boil, the blanching countdown begins. Vegetables should be cooled quickly and thoroughly to stop the cooking process immediately after blanching. For home freezing, the most satisfactory way to heat all vegetables is in boiling water.

Use a blancher which has a blanching basket and cover, or fit a wire basket into a large pot with a lid. Use one gallon water per pound of prepared vegetables. Put the vegetable in a blanching basket and lower into vigorously boiling water. Place a lid on the blancher. The water should return to boiling within 1 minute, or you are using too much vegetable for the amount of boiling water. Start counting blanching time as soon as the water returns to a boil.

Keep heat high for the time given in the directions for the vegetable you are freezing. Heating in steam is recommended for a few vegetables. For broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and winter squash, both steaming and boiling are satisfactory methods. Select personalised content.

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