Freezing Green Beans

[EKSmith]

Today I picked up my order from our food buying club....and I've got a ton of beautiful green beans. I know we won't eat all of them before they spoil. Any advice for freezing? Should I blanch them first, or freeze raw? Thanks!!

[robugmum]

My book says:
trim ends, wash, dry thoroughly, (julienne if desired) pack tight into freezer bags, remove air and freeze. will keep well for 6 months
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[EKSmith]

Perfect! And easy too! Thank you! :

[mamadelbosque]

Blanching is recomended, but, not reallly neccasary. It will help them keep longer w/o getting mushy.

ETA: either way, I recommend freezing on a cookie sheet first before packing into bags so you can pull as many, or as few as you like out at a time - otherwise you'll have to pull the whole bag out, as they'll all be frozen together.

[Llyra]

I think that blanching protects the flavor and texture better than just freezing them raw.

[EKSmith]

Thanks...the cookie sheet is a good idea...I do that with all my berries, so I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do the same with beans!

[LemonPie]

My Bell Blue Book says to blanche.

[Alyantavid]

I blanche and then toss in ziploc bags to freeze. With green beans, I don't really worry about flash freezing since they come apart so easily. And the taste is definitely better on blanched beans.

[BedHead]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

I blanche and then toss in ziploc bags to freeze. With green beans, I don't really worry about flash freezing since they come apart so easily. And the taste is definitely better on blanched beans.

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