How To Freeze Green Beans
Great Information for How to Freeze Green Beans
If you have a garden and you grow green beans, you will quickly discover the value of learning how to freeze green beans. A healthy garden consisting of this vegetable will yield beans very quickly. In fact, no matter the type you grow, whether runner beans, pole beans, yellow beans, or something else, this vegetable grows fast, while producing a tremendous amount of food. Most people are shocked at how many green beans can be produced even from a few plants.
Of course, if you love saving money and want a way to feed your family for some time to come, you might enjoy purchasing bulk green beans and other vegetables on the weekend from a farmer’s market. In this case, it would also be important to know the right way for how to freeze green beans. In both scenarios, you can buy fresh vegetables and by following the right method on how to freeze green beans, have the opportunity to put healthy food on the table at any time.
If you have a vacuum food sealer, great but if not, you can steal learn how to freeze green beans using locking plastic bags made for freezer use. You will also need a large pot for boiling water, two large bowls, and a good, sharp knife. The process starts by preparing the beans for freezing as soon as you arrive home. The reason is that the fresher the beans the better they will freeze and retain flavor. Now, if you cannot freeze the beans immediately, make sure you place them on ice for a few hours and then you can start the process.
The next step is to start boiling the pot of water, filling it about two-thirds full. Wash the beans thoroughly to remove any type of chemical. We strongly recommend when growing or buying beans or any vegetable that you use only natural or organic pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. Place the beans whole into a colander, running cold water over them for several minutes while turning to wash all of them. Then, using the sharp knife, you want to cut the tips of the beans off on both ends and cut the beans into one-half inch pieces.
Now for the next step on how to freeze green beans, you want to blanch the beans. This means placing them into the boiling water, covering with a lid, and boiling for no more than three minutes (different vegetables have different blanching times). This is an important step. The reason is that bacteria and enzymes cause nutrients break down and the beans to lose their vibrant green color. With blanching, bacteria would be destroyed and the process of enzymes affecting the vegetable would stop.
Another step in how to freeze green beans is that as soon as the blanching is done, you want to place the beans into a large bowl of ice immediately. Allow them to sit for three minutes minute and then drain. Again, this process is used for all vegetables and the duration of blanching should be the same for the time the vegetable sits in the ice. This will stop the cooking process so when removing frozen beans and cooking, you end up with the natural crunchiness.
The last step on how to freeze green beans is to place them in another bowl lined with paper towels so excess moisture would be absorbed. That way, the beans would not experience freezer burn. Once dry, use the vacuum sealer or locking plastic bags. When sealing, make sure you move air out so the bags have as little air inside possible. A great way to accomplish this is to put a regular drinking straw in one corner of the locking plastic bag and then suck all air out before completing the sealing process. When done, use a marker to put the date on the bag, and place inside the freezer.