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Freezing green beans

Last year I was lazy and froze beans without blanching them.  At least I learnt why you need to blanch - all the beans tasted AWFUL!  So this year I am trying blanching and freezing, and hoping we can use our surplus beans over winter.  I was in a hurry, so I just grabbed the first website I found and followed this method.  It was easier than I expected and I will be interested to see if the beans taste better.

The reason for blanching is to degrade the enzymes that cause the beans to decay, even when they're frozen.  Unfortunately this also degrades the good enzymes and heat sensitive vitamins in the beans.  For this reason, drying and fermenting are better options for preserving the beans, but freezing is very convenient.
The harvest when I returned from 2 weeks holiday

half the beans after I gave some away

chilling the beans after blanching

freezing the chilled beans on a tray
the frozen beans in a bag, ready for longterm storage
Do you freeze green beans?  Or use another method to preserve them?  Any tips?
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Comments

  1. Sunnybrook FarmMarch 8, 2013 at 9:51 AM

    We tried freezing green beans but they just don't taste as good as canned ones. We use a pressure cooker and put them up in pints and quarts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Frugal in Derbyshire March 8, 2013 at 11:48 PM

    I'm not too keen on freezing as it turns the beans into different creatures! However I do freeze whole french beans, they aren't too bad. Last year I salted some beans and after I found out how to get the extreme saltiness out( thanks to other bloggers!) they were closer to the fresh ones.
    When I do freeze, I use the same technique as you.
    really like visiting your blog
    Gill

    ReplyDelete
  3. EmmaMarch 9, 2013 at 6:54 AM

    Ha ha, I did the same thing last year - too lazy to blanch and I ended up with a whole lot of awful-tasting beans. I chucked them in a pot of chicken stock I was brewing so I didn't completely waste them.
    Thanks for your tutorial about blanching. Let's see if I can get up the energy to do it!

    ReplyDelete

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