This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Freshly picked peas
Greg2
Posts: 12
in Fruit & veg
Hi,
I've just picked and podded some peas. There are too much for tonights dinner. I'm thinking that freezing the rest would be best. Is it preferable to blanch them prior to freezing or not?
Greg
0
Posts
I always blanch them, just a minute or 2 in boiling water then leave them to dry on kitchen towel on a tray and when cool remove kitchen towel, put tray in freezer and bag up when frozen so that peas stay separate. But you didn't ask for all that. Sorry! Being bossy!
I wouldn't blanch them for so long. As soon as they come back to the boil is long enough.
For large quantities: Put a washing-up bowl (or whatever you can fit in) in the freeezer with water in the bottom. Freeze the water. Blanch the veg and after draining pour onto the ice to which you have added some water - not too much.
For smaller quantities pour into ice cubes and water.
Blanched vegetables should be cooled completely in the same time they were blanched for.
For blanching times I use a book from the Reader's Digest, "Food From Your Garden" that I've had for over 40 years, it always works perfectly. The enzymes that spoil frozen food should be destroyed without over blanching. I use it for making jams and jellies as well.
I'm with Welshonion. As soon as they come back to the boil at an absolute maximum. I usually don't even wait that long. All you want to do is stun the pea's growth enzyme and contact with the boiling water is usually enough for that.
Is it absolutely necessary to blanch peas before freezing? I have read on the web that some folk don't but I've a bumper harvest and don't want to ruin them. Has anyone tried to freeze without blanching?
This question is back a year later. I still maintain that they should be blanched and cooled quickly, as in my answer above. This time I have looked at Google too which agrees. Most people then cool in ice cold water, I don't as they should be as dry as possible to freeze and I have found that peas and beans cool very quickly when spread out on trays and the water evaporates. I did a year's course in dietetics and cookery when I was young and we learnt that enzymes in vegetables destroy the flavour of unblanched frozen vegetables.
This is an example of what I found on Google. One article even said blanch for 2 -3 minutes, which I'm sure is too long.
All fruits and vegetables contain enzymes and bacteria that, over time, break down the destroy nutrients and change the color, flavor, and texture of food during frozen storage. peas requires a brief heat treatment, called blanching, in boiling water or steam, to destroy the enzymes before freezing. Blanching times for peas is 1 and a half minutes (90 seconds) - the duration is just long enough to stop the action of the enzymes and kill the bacteria.
Don't you even blanch brussel sprouts iGrow? They taste disgusting if you don't blanch them.