Dreaming of Chickens
Power Conserver
I usually freeze my beans until I have enough to can them. I know you are supposed to blanch the beans before freezing (and I do), I'm just curious if anyone knows why.
freezing snap beans
- Thread starter Dreaming of Chickens
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Blanching stops the action of the enzymes that cause veggies to spoil.
Freezing slows it down, but doesn't stop it altogether, so if you freeze veggies without blanching they continue to ripen/spoil and they don't last as long in the freezer.
Freezing slows it down, but doesn't stop it altogether, so if you freeze veggies without blanching they continue to ripen/spoil and they don't last as long in the freezer.
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
What Moolie said 
rhoda_bruce
Almost Self-Reliant
I would like to can mine, because wouldn't be dependant on the freezer, but then they won't taste as fresh/good when I actually serve them. I'm keeping mine in the freezer. If we get another Katrina, maybe I'll start pulling things out of the freezer and canning.
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Dreaming of Chickens
Power Conserver
Thanks for the responses. I knew it was what I was supposed to do, but I like knowing why I'm doing things 
That is kinda what I was thinking. I don't get enough of them at one time to can anyway. It would take me half the season to get enough to make it worth the trouble of canning, so I'd have to freeze them first anyway.rhoda_bruce said:
It's funny, but whenever I hear about something or talk to someone about a particular topic like this one, I notice it everywhere for a while.
I read a recent article somewhere about freezing vegetables and it talked about experiments with blanching vs. not blanching and the non-blanched veggies pretty much tasted like cardboard after a few weeks. They also measured the vitamin content and it was way down compared to the blanched veggies. It said that the blanching stops the enzymes from degrading the veggies and also preserves certain nutrients.
So it sounds like blanching is a really good thing!
I read a recent article somewhere about freezing vegetables and it talked about experiments with blanching vs. not blanching and the non-blanched veggies pretty much tasted like cardboard after a few weeks. They also measured the vitamin content and it was way down compared to the blanched veggies. It said that the blanching stops the enzymes from degrading the veggies and also preserves certain nutrients.
So it sounds like blanching is a really good thing!
