michael adams wrote:
"Judith Lea" wrote in message
...
In article , michael adams
writes
How exactly did you prepare the beans ? Did you blanch them for instance,
before freezing ?

Yes, I did, drained them, let them cool and then put them into
appropriately sized bags, sucked out the air and twist sealed - could I
have improved on this, would it be better to just freeze without
blanching?

It's generally accepted that if its properly done home frozen beans are
quite acceptable.

Michael, do you have any tips on how to do it properly?
[...]
I did a long post on this last year Judith, [...]

I've snipped Michael's sound method, but, with him, I'd emphasise that
very rapid chilling after blanching is important. If you don't do that,
they'll go on cooking and end up too soft and lose colour -- that's why
chefs "refresh" some cooked vegetables under cold water before serving.

For some of your crop it may be worth trying the method posted by Rusty
a year ago. I for one would be very interested in hearing how it goes,
as I was sceptical, thinking it might make the beans mushy (as above).
If it works well, it would be a lot quicker and more convenient. As
follows:
" The way I freeze runners you'd never know they *HAD* been frozen. ...
Blanch them and bag them up with the blanching water in multiples of 1
portion lots. Including the juice prevents them from freeze-drying, and

all you have to do is to allow them to thaw, then gently bring them up
to the boil."

(I hope Rusty's back soon, none the worse for doing up his house: we
need some more joviality round here.)

--
Mike.