Technique: Blanching vegetables

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Blanching vegetables

When you blanch, you briefly heat vegetables in boiling water or steam. Blanching inactivates naturally occurring enzymes in the plant. These enzymes cause undesirable changes during frozen or dry storage. The changes include faster nutrient loss, vegetable toughening, flavor and color loss. The brief heating also reduces the number of microorganisms on food and enhances the color of green vegetables. Without blanching, the flavor in vegetables changes noticeably

Place water in a large kettle or vegetable blancher and bring it to a rolling boil. Use a gallon of water per pound of vegetables, or approximately 2 cups of prepared vegetables.

Clean and cut vegetables as needed.

You can use your microwave oven to blanch vegetables, but blanching times are longer. You also have to work with only one or two cups of vegetables at a time. Therefore, the microwave is not as efficient to use if you are preparing a large quantity of vegetables for the freezer.

Source: Marilyn Herman, University of Minnesiota, Deptartment of Food Science & Nutrition