Blanching Vegetables

It doesn't take long this time of year for the vegetables to get deep. Atleast twice a week I have to have a several hour  minimum blanch session to get them all preserved for the freezer.  This time it was broccoli, cabbage and peas.  

The peas had to be shelled and washed.

The cabbage and broccoli soaked in salt water for atleast half an hour to kill any sneaky little green worms hiding in there. Then chopped and prepared in whatever sizes you prefer. 

The process of blanching is simply submerging your vegetables in rapidly boiling water for the specified time . Ball Blue Book has an excellent chart on how long to blanch each vegetable. 

I prefer to use my old spaghetti cooker with the lift out basket but any big pot will do.

Here's a trick. Not only do I freeze bottles in the shed freezer for the animals but I also keep some in the inside freezer. They are great when blanching vegetables to just drop into the sink with water. When your veggies are finished blanching drop them in the ice water to stop the cooking process.   

Then drain your veggies good to get as much water as possible off.

Then I place them on cookie sheets to flash freeze.

After several hours they are taken out of the freezer and put into Foodsaver bags.

Then the bags are sealed.

Once sealed they are then returned to the freezer for future use. 

Freezing is a great way to preserve those vegetables that are not normally canned such as broccoli, and cabbage. The down side to freezing is that in times of emergency there is not always electricity to run freezers. And I have heard many horror stories about freezers going out. However I still choose to use all three methods of preservation together. Some things I freeze, some I dehydrate and others I can. Somehow I always manage to fill those freezers and pantry shelves before that first snowflake falls. 

Blessings from The Holler 

The Canned Quilter