Kitchen Tip: Freezing Green Beans

It’s green bean season!!

If you have a garden, or, if you get your local green beans from the farmers market, now is the time to preserve these beans for winter!

Beans – green beans & wax beans (our garden produce) – freeze well, but, they should be frozen very soon after picking to maximize all their good nutritional value. 

To do so, requires a simple blanching.  And, I’m here to share with you how to do just that!

Equipment

• Large stockpot
• Slotted spoon
• Strainer or colander
• Ice
• Large bowl
• Clean dish towels (preferably ones that don’t lose a lot of fuzz!)
• of course… green beans!

Directions

Begin by washing your green beans. 

To do so, soak them in a large bowl – completely immersed in water.  Allow them to soak for 3-5 minutes, moving them around in the water to rinse them well.  Then, drain using your strainer/colander, and rinse in cool water. 

Next up – pop the ends off the beans.  You can easily do this by hand – and it’s a great task for kids in the kitchen. 

Place the prepared beans (washed & ends trimmed) into a large bowl or your strainer. 

Meanwhile, prepare a large stockpot full of water.  Bring the water to a boil.  At the same time, prepare a large bowl of ice water. 

When the beans are ready and the water is boiling, carefully add the beans to the boiling water.  Turn your timer on and set it for 2 minutes beginning at the moment you place the beans into the water. 

When the timer beeps, use the slotted spoon to remove the beans from the boiling water and place them immediately into the ice cold water.  This stops the cooking process!

Allow them to sit in the ice water for 2 minutes. 

Then, remove and place them onto a surface to dry.  We lay them on dish towels. 

Blot the green beans dry and allow them to finish cooling off. 

Then, layer them on a cookie sheet and flash freeze them (10-20 minutes).  Place the mostly frozen beans into a freezer bag or container. 

To prevent freezer burn, get as much air out of the freezer bag as possible before sealing. 

Label with the date and store in your freezer. 

Reheat and use as you would store-purchased frozen vegetables. 

A few notes:

1) You can use your water 3x over again – bring the water back to a boil in between the green bean batches. 

2) Start the timer for the 2 minutes right when the beans enter the water, even if the water isn’t boiling when you add the beans (adding the beans will decreasing the boiling). 

3) Fresh beans are the best!  Grab them at your farmers market – the beans keep well in the freezer for up to 12 months. 

Linked to: Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Whole Foods Wednesday