If you’ve been turned off from canned green beans as an infant, let me be the first to assure you that fresh green beans are not like the spongy, gray beans floating in murky waters. When adequately cooked (aka not boiling to death), green beans can be an energizing vegetable that could spice up pasta, be sprinkled on salads, or serve as an a la carte food item. This is the most effective way to cook green beans in a way that they’re delicious.
Method: Blanching
Blanching is a method of cooking that involves boiling veggies until they’re soft and tender before dumping them in freezing water to stop cooking. Ice water can help maintain the color of vegetables by securing a vivid green color. Also, it eliminates the activity of enzymes which causes a decline in the texture, color, and taste of the vegetables, allowing them to last longer.
Blanching is an effective method that is an excellent option for preparing many veggies, including broccoli, asparagus, and many more. It can be used before freezing, designed with green beans to make an incredibly filling main meal Nicoise Salad or a side such as Green Bean Salad.
First, trim the green beans.
The first step is trimming the stem ends! The green beans will need to be cut at the stem ends of the green beans. It is also possible to cut off both ends If you’d like! It is common to keep the long part due to its attractive form. This is how:
A couple of bags of beans in a similar direction.
Use a chef’s knife to slice off the green beans’ stem or both ends.
How do you Blanche green beans (and for how long)
Are you ready to blanch? Here’s how you blanch green beans:
Make the water ready. Make a big container of water up to the point of boiling. Make a large bowl with Ice water.
Cut the beans off. Cut the beans by snapping or cutting away the edges.
How long do you need to cook green beans? Place the beans in the boiling water, and cook them for between 4 and five minutes until tender but vibrant green (taste an individual bean to gauge its doneness). French green beans, also known as Haricot verts, require 3 to four minutes because they’re softer and less dense. If you’re boiling to make beans frozen, cook them for two minutes.
In the ice bath. When the beans become tender, pull them out of the boiling water using tongs and then transfer them to the bowl with ice water. After two minutes, transfer the beans into a colander for draining.
How To Cook Green Beans
There are numerous ways to cook fresh green beans; however, blanching is the most effective and efficient method of cooking crunchy but soft green beans or string beans perfectly each time.
Cooking blanched is easy and only takes a couple of minutes. Most of the time, you’ll be waiting for the water to come to a boil seriously! The two-step process of blanching is simply cooking fresh beans in water for about a few minutes before immediately shocking them so that they cease boiling. Easy and fast, for sure!
Before cooking green beans, string beans, French beans, garden beans, or another variety of this delicious and healthy green vegetable, we should talk about trimming green beans.
How To Prepare Green Beans
Fresh green beans are bought already cut in packages or directly from the vine. I like to put the raw green beans into a colander to clean them in cold water. Then I shake the beans dry.
The process of trimming green beans is simple. You can cut the ends off of the string beans with your fingers (this was my daily routine when I was a child) or remove the edible stem at the end using an incredibly well-cut knife.
What is Blanching?
Blanching is a primary cooking method involving putting vegetables into a pot of salted, boiling water for only a couple of minutes. After that, you must place them in frozen water to end cooking. The process is known as “blanch and shock.”
What Is The Purpose of Blanching?
Blanching can brighten the color of vegetables. The process of blanching, or par-cooking, is helpful for green veggies such as broccoli, string beans, snap peas, pole beans, and asparagus.
The cooking process is slow, but it cooks the vegetables perfectly tender and crisp.
Cooking in blanch removes the bitterness from some vegetables, like bitter kale melon and broccoli rabe.
Flash boiling or blanching may also aid in loosening the skins on nuts, such as almonds, and soft, delicate-skinned fruit, like tomatoes and peaches.
The flash boiling process preserves the nutritional value of vegetables.
Blanching is a crucial step before freezing the vegetables.
HOW TO BLANCH GREEN BEANS
The fundamental steps to blanching green beans are easy to adhere to:
TRIM THE ENDS
Take the ends off with your hands, one at a time. You can combine some and cut the ends off using an ice-cutting knife. Cut off 1/4-1/2 inch from the top. It is not the only essential part that needs trimming; however, if you like it, you could cut off the tail too.
BOIL ON STOVETOP
The pot should be large enough to accommodate all the beans with water. The water should be brought to a simmer.
You can add the vegetables to the boiling water when you’ve got boiling water and a spoon. The water should cook for approximately 4-5 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. After that, their color will change to a bright green. Check them out after 3 minutes to ensure they don’t overcook.
BLANCH IN ICE WATER BATH
Utilizing a slotted spoon, quickly remove the beans from the pan and put them into an ice bath. Then, let them cook for at least 2 minutes or until they’re no longer warm.
DRAIN AND DRY
When they are incredible, you can drain the green beans using an ice cube by the sink. If you’d like, you could also rub them dry to drain the excess liquid before serving.
When ready to serve, warm it up, then do it with butter and sprinkle with the kosher salt you like. You can keep them cold and help them with salads or eat them as a snack and dip!
A pound of beans is enough to make four portions.
What is the best way to choose the best green beans to freeze?
Start by eating the freshest green beans you can get. Although green beans can be found all year round at the supermarket, they’re most delicious from May until October. Find green beans (without any brown or yellow components) free of hard spots (not soft, skinny, or chunky).
Are you able to trim the green beans before the freezing process?
After thoroughly washing the beans with cool water, cut off the stems of the green beans and the tail ends should you wish. If the green bean you’re using is characterized by a fiber stringy which runs through the beans pod, cut that fiber off, too.
Cutting the green beans into smaller pieces is not required. One to two-inch pieces are often the ideal way to go. It will depend on what you intend to cook with what they are used to prepare.
Do you have to boil green beans to prepare for taking them to the freezer?
Listen to us — blanching your beans before freezing will be worthwhile. It is a method of boiling vegetables and then cooling them with ice-cold water to end cooking. Soaking them in cold water stops enzyme reactions that could lead to a decline in flavor or color. It also alters the texture and appearance, meaning the green beans you buy will retain their freshness when freezing. The process also cleanses your vegetables from dirt and aids in containing minerals and vitamins. If you do not take the boiling step and instead put your green beans directly in the freezer, the vegetables may get mushy, tasteless, and away from their bright color over time.
Tips for cooking and recipes
Yield: 1 pound of blanched green beans can feed about four people.
Storage: Place leftovers wrapped in a refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Clean and trim beans for up to three days ahead.
Freezer:
- Place the rinsed beans in a single layer on an aluminum sheet covered by parchment or waxed papers and then place them into the freezer.
- Transfer the beans to the top of a zippered bag when the beans have been frozen, then freeze them for nine months.
- Take out and heat portions of any size. You can also freeze the entire pack for a night in the fridge before heating it.
Green beans for an omelet pasta salad or even a green salad. You can dip beans into hummus or ranch dressing or sink them with dill.