How would it be like to give your vegetables the ‘fresh from the garden’ taste? It may sound like having the heavenly cooking pot stir into action, unless you have heard of blanching. How to blanch vegetables?

Blanching is a method by which vegetables can be made to preserve their original and fresh taste by following simple pre-cooking tips.

Generally, till the time of harvest, enzymes indigenous to the vegetables act upon it. They continue to be in action even after harvest, and tend to decompose the vegetable, if kept in storage for a long time .Blanching is a preliminary cooking technique to hamper/stop the enzyme-activity.

Blanching is allowing the vegetables to slow-cook in hot-water/steam and then place it in an ice-bath. This process ensures that the vegetables remain fresh (because of the hampered enzyme activity).
It is important to remember that blanching is a time-sensitive process, as over-blanching can cause loss of taste and flavor and under-blanching can further promote the enzyme activity defeating the very purpose of the technique. The duration for blanching also depends upon the type, size and the quantity of vegetables used.

So, how to blanch vegetables?

As mentioned blanching has to be a precisely timed process and here are a few steps to help you in blanching vegetables :

• Take a large kettle of water and allow it to boil. The quantity of water taken depends on the quantity of vegetables used. The standard measurement is one-gallon of water for one –pound of vegetables.

• Keep an ice-bath ready, with a container full of ice. This will help in immediate freezing.

• While the water is boiling, trim the vegetables and keep them ready. And, immerse the vegetables in batches, in the boiling water.

• Your blanching time will be determined by two factors : the cooked and the tenderness factor of the vegetables being blanched. You could scoop out a piece of vegetable with a spoon, freeze it on the ice-bath, and taste it. If the taste is that of tender and partially cooked, the veggies are properly blanched.

• Strain the water from the kettle and pour the vegetables into the iced-container. Immediate freezing will stop the cooking of the vegetables. The cooling process should be done for the same time as blanching.

• You should make sure to thoroughly drain the vegetables of all the water before storing them in the refrigerator.

Following the series of steps mentioned above on how to blanch vegetables,  your veggies need no longer look shrivelled or flavor-forsaken if you blanch them well and blanch them good.

Blanching is a preliminary requisite for cooking for those who want to enjoy the perfect taste, with flavors fresh.