Green Beans Everywhere!

Hello!

Raw beans, fresh from the garden

So, here's how random my life can be. Saturday, my hubby gets a text from a friend asking if he wants to go and pick green beans. His friend's garden has exploded with green beans and there are simply too many for his family. All of this green goodness means that Sunday we had to blanch the beans and freeze them. Here's how we did it:

The hubster's hand

First, we had to rip the ends off of the beans. This is kind of a zen task and was nice to sit and talk with the hubster over the bags of beans.

Monty and Kiki offered to help

Then I rinsed them and put the beans in rolling boiling water for 3 minutes (the blanching process). This kills anything that may have gotten on the veggies and also kills an enzyme that breaks down the green beans. (The hubster just told me that tidbit - I had no clue before.) It also brings out a lovely green color in the beans.

Blanching the green beans.

Then I stuck them in an ice bath for another 3 minutes. This stops the cooking process. The beans are still very firm at this point. And uber sweet and yummy! I could really eat them like this and be happy.



ice + water = a chilly bath for green beans

Then I laid them out on a paper towel on the counter and blotted any excess water off.

And then we placed them in freezer bags!

My hubby then worked to get all air out of the bags, to prevent freezer burn. We have about 16 quart size bags of green beans. I think that should get us through to the holidays!

We're hoping next year we'll be picking a bounty like this from our garden. We got off to a slow start this year, but we're ready for next year!

Have you done any summer gardening this year? How do you store your bounty?

Peace ~ Love ~ Chocolate