Putting Food By - Janet Greene [109]
In Boiling Water
Most vegetables are easily blanched in boiling water. Do no more than 1 pound of prepared vegetables at a time, submerged in 4 quarts of briskly boiling water: these proportions let water keep the boil and agitate food for uniform treatment. The kettle should be large; ideally it has a wire basket that holds the vegetables and fits down into it. Otherwise, gather the food loosely in a large square of cotton cheesecloth, knot the corners together, and plop the bundle into boiling water. Shake the basket twice, or slosh the wrapped food up and down. When the specified time is up, lift the food out and dunk it promptly in icy water to cool it fast. Spread it on clean paper towels, pat off the water, and pack.
Altitude Note: Dr. Pat Kendall of Colorado State University Extension offers a good rule of thumb for the “Centennial State,” where average altitude is 4000 ft/1219 m above sea level. She says that dwellers on higher ground should preheat vegetables for one minute longer than the sea-level-zone requirement—and should not increase blanching time further at greater altitude. Workable advice for any such hill-country anywhere. (See also Correcting for Altitude in Chapter 3.)
Blanching in Steam
A few vegetables are better if heated in steam, and some may be done in either steam or boiling water.
For steaming, use a large kettle with a tight lid and a rack that holds a steaming basket at least 3 inches above the bottom of the kettle. Put in 1 or 2 inches of water and bring it to a boil.
Put your prepared vegetables in the basket in only a single layer, so the steam can reach all parts quickly. Cover the kettle and keep heat high. Start counting the time as soon as the cover is on.
As in the altitude note added to the boiling-water blanch, add 1 minute to steaming time if you live 4000 ft/1219 m above sea level.
Blanching in a Microwave Oven
Follow the instructions that come with your oven. This is good sense, not laziness on our part, because, aside from their varied sophistication, ovens differ in capacity and in the wattage that runs them: both factors affect the way each oven treats food.
Microwave blanching can be a fussy business, but you can’t go badly wrong with the process. Vegetables’ color is superior to that retained in other blanching methods.
Other Ways to Preheat
Pumpkins, squash, and sweet potatoes are best fully cooked in a pressure cooker (if you use one) or baked in an oven; when done, they are scooped out, mashed/strained, cooled, and frozen. Cleaned, trimmed, whole, or sliced mushrooms may be pan-broiled in a nonstick skillet, or in a little butter/margarine (a little, because fat acts as an insulator and generous amounts of it can reduce storage life of a food); sautéed this way, they produce some juice, which is frozen with them.
Cool after Blanching
Cool all vegetables as quickly as possible after they’ve been preheated. Use plenty of ice water, and change it often to keep it cold. It takes time to chill vegetables properly.
When they are completely cooled, drain them well on clean, absorbent towels: you want as little dampness as possible in the pack.
The Packs
Vegetables for freezing may be packed either dry or in brine. The Dry pack is easier and lets you use the vegetables as if they were fresh, so Dry pack is the method we’ll use the most. To make packaging Dry-packed vegetables (and some fruits) easier, just place a single layer of any freezer-ready small vegetable on a tray and sharp-freeze it fast (near − 20 F/− 29 C). Then pour the frozen vegetable into a freezer-type container and seal. Because the pieces are not stuck to each other,