Hi,

How is the best way to freeze Runner & Broad Beans?

Assuming that they can be frozen OK that is.

Cheers,

Griff.

The message
from "Griff" contains these words:

How is the best way to freeze Runner & Broad Beans?

Assuming that they can be frozen OK that is.

I blanch both types of beans for two minutes, and put them in freezer
bags with the water they were blanched in. This prevents freezerburn and
partial freeze-drying.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Griff" wrote in message
...
Hi,

How is the best way to freeze Runner & Broad Beans?

Assuming that they can be frozen OK that is.

Pick them, place into plastic bags, open freezer door, place bags in
freezer. Simple!

pammyT wrote:
"Griff" wrote in message
...
Hi,

How is the best way to freeze Runner & Broad Beans?

Assuming that they can be frozen OK that is.

Pick them, place into plastic bags, open freezer door, place bags in
freezer. Simple!

Absolutely!! Peas and beans are the easiest things to freeze, and they
are also some of the veg most unaffected by freezing - by that I mean
they taste as good from frozen as they do fresh.
Just be sure to freeze as quickly as possible after picking.
And *do not* blanch - dreaded word!
The only things I blanch before freezing are leafy veg, like swiss
chard or spinach.


Cat(h)
Newbie gardener, but old time freezer and cook!
The world swirls...

"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"Griff" wrote in message
...
Hi,

How is the best way to freeze Runner & Broad Beans?

Assuming that they can be frozen OK that is.

Cheers,

Griff.



My method anyway.

For runners and bigger french beans (hunter\largo variety)
at least, you need* to chop the beans up first. Depending on how
much time you have, its a great help of you chop them between
the beans, rather than through individual beans as this means
you don't have half beans falling out. But this depends on
how much time you have, i.e to chop individual beans.

* I don't know if this is gospel but I always have. And I will have
got the advice from an authoratitive source, at some point.

The chopped beans are put in a perforated pasta insert and lowered
into a stockpot of fast boiling water for two minutes - two minutes
after the water has returned to a fast boil that is.

The pasta insert (and beans) is then immediately taken out
of the boiling water, shaken to drain off as much water as possible,
and immediately dunked in a similarly sized stockpot of iced water
which was prepared beforehand. Although not so quickly, that beans
float away over the top of the stockpot.

Once the beans are thoroughly cooled, say 10 secs, they're taken out of
the
ice cold water, the pasta insert is shaken to get rid of as much water
as possible, and then they're tipped out onto clean tea towels to be
dried off for around 30 secs maximum. They're then spread out on a sheet
of polythene itself covering an appropriate largish size piece of
hardboard\plywood whatever*. The beans are then frozen on the sheet which
is put in the freeezer for a couple of hours. When frozen through, they
can then be gathered up and bagged up or stored in any containers as you
see fit. This should keep them separate, and easy to use.

Depending on the size of your freezer - chest or upright and the
size of the pots available, you may neeed two smaller sheets of
hardboard, or whatever. Or do smaller batches etc etc.

WHat a lot of time consuming and unnecessary palaver though. Why bother
when you don't need to?

The message
from "pammyT" fenlandfowl @talktalk.net contains these words:

Depending on the size of your freezer - chest or upright and the
size of the pots available, you may neeed two smaller sheets of
hardboard, or whatever. Or do smaller batches etc etc.

WHat a lot of time consuming and unnecessary palaver though. Why bother
when you don't need to?

So you can take out just the quantity you require.

I do that with mushrooms and many vegetables, so I can take (say) two
mushrooms, half a dozen slivers of carrot, a similar quantity of
parsnip, some cubes of swede (or ice-cube blocks of bashit neep), a
handful of sprouts, two rashers of bacon, etc etc. (Or pro rata for
appetite, or the number of people to consume the meal.)

I have a plastic tray, and I lay a sheet of polythene on it, lay out the
stuff to be frozen, then when that is full, place another sheet of
plastic on top and repeat the process.

I do it with sausages, fish, liver, etc, and have made a frame from a
wire coathanger on which to hang (allegedly) self-sealing ice-egg bags.
I use two clothes pegs to secure the bag, place a small funnel in the
opening, and pour in stock. This makes handy units for adding to dishes,
gravy, etc.

But I do not freeze beans separately - kept for any length of time they
become partially dehydrated due to the amount of air included in the
bag. I freeze things like sliced runners in the water in which they were
blanched, usually in single portion units - they keep for years like
that.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"michael adams" wrote in message
...
snipped time consuming method



WHat a lot of time consuming and unnecessary palaver though. Why bother
when you don't need to?


People reading a gardening NewsGroup would probably do better to
follow the above advice, which accords with every published authority
on the subject. Advice which is pitched at every level, and is soundly
based on the actual biological processes involved.

If you can produce one single authority or reference on the subject
which contradicts any of the above, and claims blanching is unnecessary
for beans which are to be stored for any length of time, then please feel
free to do so.

Some people are afraid to inhale and exhale unless there is scientific data
to prove it is safe to do so .
Data? Nope, just been freezing my produce for decades. Never blanched beans
and never blanched tomatoes either. All last a good year or until the next
fresh crop is ready and tastes wonderful. I blanch very little as I have
better things to do in a day.

In article ,
"michael adams" writes:
| "Kay" wrote in message
| ...
|
| So every book, and every supposed "expert" on the subject is wrong.
|
| Just what is the point of subscribing to a newsgroup like urg if you are
| going to assume that everything based on personal experience is wrong
| and that only what has been published in a book is correct?
|
| That isn't what is being suggested here.
|
| Which is that every single book and authority concerning a
| straightforward matter of best practice is wrong. ...

Not every one - I have seen the advice that blanching is often
unnecessary a couple of times.

However, even unanimity would not be surprising, given the way
that authors copy from each other, and the fact that most of
the original sources were written when freezers maintained much
higher temperatures than they do today. Chemical reaction rates
are strongly affected by temperature, you know.

The experience that blanching is generally unnecessary with
modern freezers has been confirmed by a great many of us, based
on our own experiments. And an ounce of experiment is worth a
pound of quotation from authority.

| If people are asking for advice on a NewsGroup, and they could
| be in any way seriouly inconvenienced should that advice turn
| out to be wrong then I personally always adopt the precautionary
| principle. Better safe than sorry.

In order to choose the safer of two paths, you must already know
a great deal about the effects of following both paths. In this
case, it is unclear which IS safer.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
"michael adams" writes:
|
| Indeed so. So could you give specific dates and temperatures for
| your somewhat loose and informal, if I may say so there,
| " higher temperature " claim, perhaps with some quotes and
| cites, to a concise and independant source ?

You will find more information in books on physical chemistry,
brewing (sic) and related subjects, but everything in a book for
the layman will be loose and informal.

| And perhaps before embarking on a "freeezer troll" perhaps you'd
| be so kind as to bring your "cycle troll" to a mutally satisfactory
| conclusion by admitting either that you were mistaken in claiming
| that Professor Sauders would never ever mention "cycles", or that
| the BBC were lying, in quoting him directly as speaking in precisely
| those terms.

You are indulging in gross terminological inexactitudes.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
"michael adams" writes:
|
| I'm specificaly requesting evidence for your claim that the
| operating temperature of consumer freezers has fallen
| in recent decades.
|
| Because I was under the distinct impression that the only
| improvement was in the degree of insulation offered, which
| made them more energy efficient.

Go and find out about what freezers were like before 1960, when
those recommendations originated, and don't be such a clot. Some
of us remember those days, even if you had not yet been perpetrated.

| Now why not just try answering the question ?

Because you're trolling. If you stop misrepresenting me, I shall
start taking you a little more seriously.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , pammyT
writes

Some people are afraid to inhale and exhale unless there is scientific data
to prove it is safe to do so .
Data? Nope, just been freezing my produce for decades. Never blanched beans
and never blanched tomatoes either. All last a good year or until the next
fresh crop is ready and tastes wonderful. I blanch very little as I have
better things to do in a day.




What do you do with unfrozen tomatoes if they go all squishy then? I
have loads of tomatoes this year, all ripening at the same time and was
unsure whether to 'make something' with them or just try and use them.
Can you successfully just shove them in the freezer and still use them?
If so has anyone got a decent recipe for salsa or pasta sauce as my
attempts have always been terrible.

Am going to make a chocolate courgette cake this years as all my
courgettes are taking over the deep beds as I speak!
There's quite a few recipes for that including one from gardening Which
magazine which I have tasted and it does seem very good.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

jane wrote:
On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:06:33 +0100, Janet Tweedy
wrote:
[...]
use them? ~If so has anyone got a decent recipe for salsa or pasta
sauce as my ~attempts have always been terrible.
[...]

For pasta sauce I just stick a handful of toms per person into a
pan
with the skins removed as above, add a teaspoon of olive oil,
seasoning and then just heat and mash with a wooden spoon until
they
go soft.
[...]

I had to write my children a cookery book when they started going off
to univ., but it didn't involve frozen tomato pulp! I'd recommend
peeling, yes, but also letting the tomatoes drain in a sieve for a
while, even overnight: the vibes tell me you may be finding your
sauce unsatisfactory because of too much moisture.

You may like to try this simple recipe we use for pasta. For a pound
or two of tomatoes, half tsp each dried oregano and mixed herbs,
pepper, good chicken stock cube or Marigold veg stock powder, pepper,
1 clove garlic. (No onion, which is acid. No salt, either. A trace of
ginger or cayenne is nice.)

Chop or crush garlic, fry gently in a tablesp oil, without browning
_at all_, till it's sort of translucent. Add chopped or pulped
tomatoes, bring to the boil; add the other stuff, then simmer gently
till you like the look of it. You can scatter a little chopped
parsley on top when serving.

I always nick out the little core in the top of each tomato, but
that's fussy. If necessary, hit the sauce with a potato masher as it
cooks. If you want meat, fry a fistful of mince with the garlic,
stirring: any bits which stick should be lifted off by the tomatoes.
There have been no complaints in thirty years.

--
Mike.

"michael adams" wrote in message
...

So every book, and every supposed "expert" on the subject is wrong.
I have a collection of poultry books since I am a breeder of fancy fowl.
Some of the advice given even 20 years ago, would now be regarded as wrong.
Just because it is in a book doesn't mean it is gospel. Not even the bible
is that.
What makes an expert? SOmeone who has studied the physics of freexing and
can explain about molecular structures etc? Or someone wgho freezes, pickles
and preserves fruit and vegetables yearly for the olast 2 decades as a means
of preserving gluts and avoiding waste?

Most of the books and the supposed "experts" recommend blanching
french beans if they're going to be stored for longer than around
8 weeks maximum. And peas if they're going to be stored for
longer than 12 weeks.
So if it worries you, blanch away.If you prefer to blindly belive what you
read in a book rather than try something yourself, carry on.


As most people will be sick of the sight
and taste of beans and peas at the end of the season, it's assumed
they'd be storing them for a longer period than that.
I love beans and could never be sick of them. It's why I grow and freeze so
many. I have beans almost every day.

In which case
they'll need to be blanched to halt the enzyme activity which would
otherwise eventually render them unpapalatable.
Oh well, I obviously have unique beans cos mine are delicious.


As there are no big corporations around with a direct interest in
persuading people to blanch vegetables unecessarily, I find it
difficult to believe there's some widespread conspiracy
afoot to forge experimental data and trials, biological explanations
about enzyme actitvity, and for "experts" to fabricate personal anecdotes
about spoiled food, simply in order to hoodwink the public.
shrug so carry on if it's what makes you happy.


Some people might look on the opportunity to freeze their own produce
as a privilege rather a chore. And something worth taking a little
trouble over, given that it only takes up a couple of hours a year
at the most. And I'd imagine that if they thought otherwise many of
them probably wouldn't bother, but would simply buy their stuff in the
supermarket instead.
So why not conduct an experiment for yourself so that you will *know*
instead of believeing everything you read? Bl;anch and freeze some, then
freeze unblanched some more?

"michael adams" wrote in message
...
Specificaly because this runs directly contrary to every single
piece of advice and information ever published the subject.

Ever.
Unless you have read every single piece on the subject ever published, I
would say that you are a troll.

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , pammyT
writes

Some people are afraid to inhale and exhale unless there is scientific
data
to prove it is safe to do so .
Data? Nope, just been freezing my produce for decades. Never blanched
beans
and never blanched tomatoes either. All last a good year or until the
next
fresh crop is ready and tastes wonderful. I blanch very little as I have
better things to do in a day.




What do you do with unfrozen tomatoes if they go all squishy then? I
have loads of tomatoes this year, all ripening at the same time and was
unsure whether to 'make something' with them or just try and use them.

You use them as you would tinned tomatoes. Make soups, put them in stews
and casseroles, have tomatoes on toast, make pizza toppings. Every mouthful
tastes of hot summer days and cheers up a miserable cold dark winter's day
:-)


Can you successfully just shove them in the freezer and still use them?
Indeed. I just put them whole into carrier bags and bung in the freezer.

If so has anyone got a decent recipe for salsa or pasta sauce as my
attempts have always been terrible.
I'll have a look through some of my cookery books for some recipes for you.


Am going to make a chocolate courgette cake this years as all my
courgettes are taking over the deep beds as I speak!
And if you let them grow into marrows, there is a nice 'million pie' recipe
for it which is very old and delicious.