How to Blanch Vegetables
Blanching fresh vegetables is a perfect way to keep that garden-fresh flavor for months to come!
Ingredients
Fresh garden vegetables like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, beans, asparagus and so forth
Instructions
Blanching to Eat Immediately
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a vigorous boil.
- While it heats up to boil, set a bowl of ice water next to the sink.
- Add your vegetables to the boiling water and cook, or “blanch,” until crisp-tender, about 45 seconds for smaller vegetables (green beans, snap peas, peas) and about 2 minutes for bigger ones (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli).
- Drain and immediately transfer the vegetables to the ice water to stop them from cooking (this is called “shocking”). So yes you’re going to be putting the vegetables in the actual ice water bath. This stops the cooking process immediately. By doing this you’re able to retain the color and crispness.
- Let cool completely
- Drain, pat dry, and inhale!
Blanching for Freezing
Following the same instructions above, as soon as the vegetables are cooled, drained and dried immediately place in a freezer-safe container and plop into the freezer!