What's Cooking?
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Freezing my garden fresh green beans...
Do I really need to blanch them first? I've read online that blanching of course, stops the enzymes from continuing to ripen the veggie... but other sites say that freezing will do the same thing.
We have a new (less than a year old) upright, high efficiency deep freezer. I buy frozen veggies ALL the time, so this year I just decided to grow a bunch of stuff in the garden, and try my hand at canning/freezing.
What do you think? Can I skip the blanching?
Re: Freezing my garden fresh green beans...
Yes, skip the blanching. It's really just an unnecessary step. I love that little hand-held food saver. Mine is a bit bigger but I really like it, although it can be slightly awkward:
http://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-Vertical-Vacuum-Sealing-Starter/dp/B005FBQR3S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1342478292&sr=8-6&keywords=food+saver
Okay first off, congrats on the garden!
Yes, you should blanch the vegetables, for several reasons: freezing does not kill the enzymes that cause rot (freezing doesnt stop this process, it only slowls it), it will help your vegetables look and taste more fresh when you pull them out of the freezer, and lastly, it helps make sure they're good and clean before sticking them in the freezer (some people forget to wash them, before cooking them, after popping them out of the freezer).
Good luck with both your garden and your green beans!