Freezing/Blanching Green Beans

Shez

Ive got loads of french runner beans from my neighbour that i want to freeze.

Can someone tell me how long you have to blanch them for? and then how long in the cold water afterwards? and do I have to cut them first or can I freeze them whole? which is better?

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks!

taplady

this is what I do with mine:

slice them up
I use a chip-fryer basket(pound shop) to hold them in and put them into a big pan of boiling water and then leave them until the water boils again(not long at all)
I then put them into ice cold water then dry them off by lying them on kitchen roll before bagging them up for the freezer.

they do stick together a bit when frozen but some come apart.Never had any problems with them and by slicing them up first they are ready for use straight away.HTH;)

forgot to say I do them in small batches at a time(eg 1 bagful)

HariboJunkie

I would cut them first then put in boiling water. Turn heat off and leave for 2 mins then submerge in a bowl of cold water. try to try them well before you freeze them.

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, Shez! I slice runer beans (the flattened ones), and leave French beans (the more cylindrial ones) whole. I then put them into a pan of boiling water. I give them 1 minute after the water comes back to the boil. I do several small batches rather than 1 big one.

I then take them out using a slotted spoon and into a big bowl of iced water (I make big ice cubes in plastic cups for this purpose).I leave them there until the ice is melted. Take them out, dry in a tea towel and freeze on a tray. Then pack into freezer bags.

I find blanching only useful if you're planning to keep them for ages, as un-blanched the flavour and texture deteriorates over time. If I'm planning to eat them in a month or 2 I don't bother.

Penny. x

tanith

Gave up blanching my beans , I just slice and freeze they come out fine.... much less trouble...

doddsy

tanith wrote: »

Gave up blanching my beans , I just slice and freeze they come out fine.... much less trouble...

Me too! I slice them into a big bag and take out what I need and put them straight into boiling water.

Shez

Thanks everyone for the tips!

Ive sliced them and blanched them today, dried and put into bag. Next time I will chuck them straight in the freezer and try that too!

Another stupid question though: how do you cut them so they are that nice shape?? Ive been slicing diagonally - but i think you can get a bean slicer?? has any got one or are they not worth it really?

Bobbykins

Hi Shez

I have a bean slicer and I wouldn't be without it - cost me about £5.00 in a fancy posh kitcheny-type shop but it's one of the best fivers I've ever spent!

Like a few other posters, I don't blanch my beans, but I find that's only OK if you are able to slice them up quite fine. I tried just cutting them by hand, diagonally, and when I froze them without blanching, for some reason they didn't keep anything like as well.

Anyway, as I say, a bean slicer has to be a good investment.

Cheers

pounds_and_pensive

I've got a bean slicer around here somewhere, but I can't remember where I got it from. It cuts them lengthwise, so they come out sort of noodle-y. I think it takes a little bit longer to feed the beans through it than just chopping them up into diamonds, but strangely they do seem nicer to eat when cut with a bean slicer I'm in the 'in favour of' camp when it comes to bean slicers I think mine only cost about a quid, but it was a while ago.

Edited to add that I've just looked on eBay and got 72 returns when searching for 'bean slicer'. Some were priced in the realms of astronomical, but there was a least one for under a fiver including P+P.