Blanching

Bindi1

Bindi1

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I want to start blanching my home grown veggies. When I read up about it it says to put veggies in boiling water and cook for 2/3 minutes. Is that after the water returns to the boil or put them in the water for 2/3 minutes?
Thanks
 
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Fresh veggies should not drop the water temp that much. The amount of blanching time depends more on the veggie and the purpose than the water dropping off a full boil. Blanching a tomato so you can peel it takes very little time -- maybe 30 seconds??? Blanching green beens like the ones in your avatar photo will take longer, if you want to make them more tender, without going limp.

I tend to go by feel, instead of time. In that sense, it is kind of like knowing when pasta is done.

You may also want to have a bowl of ice water handy to stop the cooking process when you take the veggies out of the boiling water. If you plan to eat them right away, just do that briefly. If you are blanching them to use later, you can leave them in the cold water to cool off completely.

CD
 
How long do you blanch snow peas?
You only need to boil snow peas for 30-60 seconds. Add your snow peas to a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 30-60 seconds, then drain, refresh under cold running water and drain again.

Is that after the the water returns to the boil?
 
Bindi1 said:
I want to start blanching my home grown veggies.
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What is the purpose behind blanching them?

Is it to can/tin for preservation?
Is it to freeze for preservation?

Is it to eat there and then, partially raw but with a sterilised exterior?

Presumably you are looking to preserve them in some manner? Are you looking to sterilise the exterior to remove germs/moulds etc to extend freezer life, or just to wilt slightly so that the veg packs better into a smaller space with less air for freezer burn?

Exact seconds timing isn't that important. You'll learn and all veg is different. Your snowpeas may not be the same size as mine. They will be a different variety and grown in different conditions. 30 seconds extra blanching for mine won't affect yours if you've them a lot later than I have. They'll be bigger, tougher and can take it.

Do you understand what I'm saying? Home grown veg doesn't meet strict supermarket criteria that discards so much unnecessarily. You'll have larger snowpeas, thicker snowpeas, thinner snowpeas and so on. You'll need to sort you snowpeas. You might have 2 distinct sizes needing different timing. You might need to chop some of them. If you're bottling the snowpeas, you'll want slightly softer snowpeas to pack better into the jar. If you're freezing them, and are short on space, you'll want to make them softer as well, but if you've a huge freezer, and only want to aid their storage, you can blanche them for a very short period or even freeze them raw. They'll last a month or so without issue in the freezer without blanching. Mine do if I haven't eaten them all first.
 
I generally start with a fairly big bowl of water. Bring to the boil then add a smallish amount of veges to it and as soon as the water boils again, I take them out with a slotted spoon and transfer them to cold water,
Then next batch and so on.

I rather have them slightly undercooked as they will cook further when preparing them
 
A lot depends on how much energy the stove is putting into reheating that water. Is the pan coveted with a lid and so on.

So ultimately it isn't a timetable that you're looking for, it's a stage of "cooking".

The best description I can give at extremes.
Both big pans of water, one covered and a a fierce boil, with the ring on full underneath. Lots of energy going into reheating that water.

Now go to the other extreme. Same pan, same volume of water, lowest level of heat from the stove, no lid.

Add the same volume of veg to the water. Which will get back to a boil fastest? The covered at full heat...

Will the veg be any less cooked in the same time frame though? Likely as not even if the water in the second pan doesn't return to the boil. It doesn't need to return to the boil to cook the veg, let alone actually only blanch it.

Go with what looks right visually for your veg, not what books or online says. You'll need to learn as you go and adjust your timings accordingly.
 
Take a similar amount of water like when you want to boil pasta. In the restaurant we use a lot of salt for preserve the color and to give it some taste, but it's not that environmentally friendly. Depending on what you're doing after, you can blanch them with more or less crunch. For example Wild broccoli can be fried really nice after blanching, the same with peas in the pod.
 
Depends entirely on what you're blanching. For example, if it's Swiss chard, or kale, I'd bring the water to the boil, add the veg then, as soon as the water comes back to a boil, wait 30 seconds, drain, refresh, ready.
Green beans I tend to leave about 2 minutes (and I always use the timer on the stove); broccoli, cauliflower, peas, the same. You mentioned snow peas - same as chard or kale.
Things like carrots, parsnip, potatoes, beetroot, artichokes, aubergine (eggplant), pumpkin, courgettes (zucchini) don't get blanched here. They're cooked from scratch to table.
 
PabloLerntKochen said:
Take a similar amount of water like when you want to boil pasta. In the restaurant we use a lot of salt for preserve the color and to give it some taste, but it's not that environmentally friendly. Depending on what you're doing after, you can blanch them with more or less crunch. For example Wild broccoli can be fried really nice after blanching, the same with peas in the pod.
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karadekoolaid said:
Things like carrots, parsnip, potatoes, beetroot, artichokes, aubergine (eggplant), pumpkin, courgettes (zucchini) don't get blanched here. They're cooked from scratch to table.
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The OP is specifically talking about preserving excess veg from their garden/veg plot, not cooking or blanching veg for serving immediately to be eaten. (Stated in the 1st post and the fact they have posted in the The Veg Plot, & Growing to Preserving forum and not the Vegetables, Salads & Mushrooms forum.)

In light of that, what would you suggest?
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
The OP is specifically talking about preserving excess veg from their garden/veg plot, not cooking or blanching veg for serving immediately to be eaten. (Stated in the 1st post and the fact they have posted in the The Veg Plot, & Growing to Preserving forum and not the Vegetables, Salads & Mushrooms forum.)

In light of that, what would you suggest?
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I don't understand your point to be honest. I said "30 seconds" for some veg and "2 minutes" for others, then "ready". Perhaps I should have been more specific and said " ready to be bagged and frozen". I also said that certain veg (in my particular house) don't get blanched, because they go from fresh to table. I hadn't read "the Veg Plot " post so excuse me if I missed something!
 
we cream corn for the freezer every year , we use an out door fish fryer to blanch it in , we get the water to a rolling boil put the corn ( still on the cob ) and watch for it to change color
we have also creamed it and put it in a large pan in the oven and stired it and watched for the color change
 
it would be fruitful to look up "Why blanch?"

green beans, yellow beans, sugar snap peas, corn (sliced off the cob) - all go from garden to freezer - no blanching.
blanching is supposed to "preserve them better over time" - okay, but there's nothing left come spring, and no quality hit has ever been noticed . . .

tomatoes I stew.

summer squashes are eaten fresh or pickled (with assorted other goodies... onion/carrots/cauliflower . . . )
spinach get consumed fresh.

so . . . basically methinks the whole "blanching business" is actually not required for the home gardener.
 
i have often wondered IF blanching was something that was really required, but when your putting up 300-600 ears of corn like we do i never had the nerve to chance it
 
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