Cooking Lesson: How To Blanch Vegetables

I can’t stand wastage of food. I also love a bargain. I found a great way of combining the two….the reduced counter! I’ve discovered if I time it right (about half an hour before closing on a sunday) then I can get great discounted fruit and veg. However, I don’t want to use it all there and then so I need a way of storing it. This is where blanching comes in. Below are instructions and  a table of times required. I’ve also added some books of interest at the end.

Equipment and Ingredients:

• Saucepan
• Ice Bath (Bowl of cold water and ice)
• Plate or worktop saver covered with a paper towel
• Chopping Board
• Knife
• Slotted Spoon or Blanching Spoon
• Vegetables!
• Salt (optional)

Method:

1. Put plate or worktop saver covered in paper towel ready
2. Get ice bath ready
3. Bring a large pan of water to the boil
4. Prepare your vegetables. Chop them into the same size pieces. This will make sure they blanch evenly
5. If you wish to add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the pan then do so now. This will preserve the colour and improve the flavour but it is optional. I choose not to do it because I don’t use salt with vegetables anyway.
6. Keep the pan on a high heat and add handfuls of vegetables one at a time. This will keep the pan boiling.
7. Each vegetable takes a different amount of time to blanch so I suggest only doing one kind of vegetable at a time.
8. See table below for times per vegetable
9. When the time is up, remove the vegetables using the slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice bath. You need to move quickly for this.
10. This stops the cooking process.
11. When they are cool, remove them from the ice bath and dry on the paper towel.
12. Bag, label and freeze.

Table

• Asparagus: 2-4 minutes
• Aubergines:  4 minutes
• Brussels sprouts: 3-4 minutes
• Broccoli: 3-4 minutes
• Cabbage (shredded): 1 ½ minutes
• Carrots: 3-5 minutes
• Cauliflower: 3 minutes
• Celery: 3 minutes
• Courgettes: 1 minute
• French Beans: 2-3 minutes
• Mangetout: 2-3 minutes
• Marrow: 3 minutes
• Onions: 2 minutes
• Parsnip: 2 minutes
• Peas: 1-2 minutes
• Peppers: 3 minutes
• Sweetcorn: 4-8 minutes
• Turnips: 2 ½ minutes

Some books of interest:

1. Food Preservation & Storage at Home – A Step by Step Guide to Canning, Pickling, Dehydrating, Freezing & Safely Storing Food for Later Use
2. How to Freeze Fresh Food at Home: Everything You Need to Know About Freezing and Freezer
3. Home Freezing Handbook (The Basic Basics)

Do you have anything to add with regards to blanching? If so, please comment below. I’d love to hear from you. 🙂