Blanching - what it is, why it's important.
The first time I got introduced to blanching I was cutting of vast amounts of french fries for a local coffee shop/ diner in the back kitchen. It was one of my first summer jobs & I was terrible at it. (My onion chopping was worse, but everyone has to start somewhere I guess.)
What is it?
Blanching is the scalding of produce in boiling water for a short time before dropping it into an ice bath to shock it. This helps the skin to peel off easily. This is particularly important for peaches as the fuzzy exterior does not help you in baking or canning in any way.
Why blanch?
Blanching is an important step you need to do before freezing your fruits & veggies. Blanching will stop the enzyme reactions in the produce that cause loss of colour, texture & flavour. The enzymes are not bad for you, they are essential to help the produce grow & mature. You don't however, need that happening in your freezer. If you do not blanch your veggies or do it long enough the enzymes will remain active. So when you pull your fruit out to use for canning they could look bad, taste off, or be very tough.
Great side notes about blanching:
- It cleanses the surface of dirt, bacteria & other organisms through the boiling process
- Your fruits & veggies look brighter. Let's face it steamed broccoli always looks & tastes better than plain raw broccoli
- It helps retard the loss of vitamins in your produce.
- Blanching softens the produce up to make it easier to pack & store in the freezer.
The best site I have ever come across about blanching is pickyourown.org It was one of the first canning sites I ever came across & the information there is valuable & very beginner friendly. It lists step by step instructions with steaming times & info on how to correctly blanch & prep anything. Bevinia who runs the site is performing a real labor of love there.
As I am a beginner blogger I will give you a brief view of the basics as I blanched some clingstone peaches I picked this past Thursday.
1. Boiling water. Try not to do more than 3 to 4 fruits at a time. My boyfriend suggests cutting an x into the bottom of your produce prior to boiling as it gives you an excellent start point to remove the skin from.
2. Ice bath. Have extra ice on hand in the fridge if you are doing large batches
3. Naked peaches! Cut into slices along the sides of the peach pit. Be careful as pits sometimes break apart & the gooey seed pops out at you. You don't want this to happen while you are handling a sharp knife.
4. Freezer bags for freezing. I am using cheap sandwich bags here, but the peaches are only being frozen until the weekend so they will survive. If you plan on having them frozen long term invest in high quality bags to prevent freezer burn. I also keep my bags small as I can measure out for easy defrost depending on what I need to use. Make sure you get all the air out of the bag before popping it in the freezer!
What is it?
Blanching is the scalding of produce in boiling water for a short time before dropping it into an ice bath to shock it. This helps the skin to peel off easily. This is particularly important for peaches as the fuzzy exterior does not help you in baking or canning in any way.
Why blanch?
Blanching is an important step you need to do before freezing your fruits & veggies. Blanching will stop the enzyme reactions in the produce that cause loss of colour, texture & flavour. The enzymes are not bad for you, they are essential to help the produce grow & mature. You don't however, need that happening in your freezer. If you do not blanch your veggies or do it long enough the enzymes will remain active. So when you pull your fruit out to use for canning they could look bad, taste off, or be very tough.
Great side notes about blanching:
- It cleanses the surface of dirt, bacteria & other organisms through the boiling process
- Your fruits & veggies look brighter. Let's face it steamed broccoli always looks & tastes better than plain raw broccoli
- It helps retard the loss of vitamins in your produce.
- Blanching softens the produce up to make it easier to pack & store in the freezer.
The best site I have ever come across about blanching is pickyourown.org It was one of the first canning sites I ever came across & the information there is valuable & very beginner friendly. It lists step by step instructions with steaming times & info on how to correctly blanch & prep anything. Bevinia who runs the site is performing a real labor of love there.
As I am a beginner blogger I will give you a brief view of the basics as I blanched some clingstone peaches I picked this past Thursday.
1. Boiling water. Try not to do more than 3 to 4 fruits at a time. My boyfriend suggests cutting an x into the bottom of your produce prior to boiling as it gives you an excellent start point to remove the skin from.
2. Ice bath. Have extra ice on hand in the fridge if you are doing large batches
3. Naked peaches! Cut into slices along the sides of the peach pit. Be careful as pits sometimes break apart & the gooey seed pops out at you. You don't want this to happen while you are handling a sharp knife.
4. Freezer bags for freezing. I am using cheap sandwich bags here, but the peaches are only being frozen until the weekend so they will survive. If you plan on having them frozen long term invest in high quality bags to prevent freezer burn. I also keep my bags small as I can measure out for easy defrost depending on what I need to use. Make sure you get all the air out of the bag before popping it in the freezer!
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