Would steaming work as well as blanching?

On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:39:43 +0100, "Uncle Marvo"
wrote:

In reply to David (in Normandy) ) who
wrote this in , I, Marvo, say :

As header, is it possible to pop fresh French beans from the
allotment in the freezer. Do they freeze OK like this?
Paul.

We tried freezing sliced French runner beans without blanching but
they didn't come out very well. Since then we always blanch them
first and they freeze fine. The key to blanching successfully seems
to be to plunge only a few at a time into boiling water for around 3
minutes, then plunge them into cold water, then chill them in the
fridge then into the freezer on fast freeze. The less beans that are
put into the boiling water in one go the better as the water comes
back to the boil quicker. The longer they linger in the hot/boiling
water the more they spoil.

Since I'm lurking ...

Less than 3 minutes IMHO, and very hot fully boiling water. Maybe one
minute. Then before freezing, spin dry them in a salad spinner or in the
washing machine in a muslin bag (make sure the washing machine is clean!)

It works very well.