Blanching is to treat the raw materials with steam, hot water or boiling water. The purpose of this procedure is the destruction of enzymes, the destruction of microorganisms and the removal of air from tissues.
Sometimes vegetables and greens just need to be
blanched. This will eliminate the specific smell and bitterness of the product. The procedure is performed to preserve the color of some products and to fry potato slices. Blanching tomatoes allows you to easily remove the peel from them.
Before freezing vegetables and greens or a certain type of fruit, it is also advisable to blanch them. This method of cooking will significantly slow down, and sometimes completely stop the destructive effect of enzymes. This will preserve the color, aroma and structure of the product.
What does blanching vegetables mean? This means putting them in a gauze bag, a metal net or a colander. In this case, the products can be whole or pre-cut into pieces. How to blanch the fruits in this case? The container in which the product is placed must be immersed in boiling water at the rate of 4 liters per 1 kg of vegetables. The process usually takes two to five minutes. In order to comply with the required temperature regime (from eighty-five to ninety degrees), water should be intensively heated.
Thus, to blanch is to process whole fruits or their slices with hot water for the required time and get the product in a timely manner. It is important to comply with the measure. With prolonged blanching, the ingredients may fall apart, and with a short blanching, they may remain solid.
After completing the processing process, vegetables and fruits should be immediately chilled. For this, ice water is used, in which a container with products is placed.
In order to prepare fruits or greens for blanching at home, you need certain dishes and tools. Simple devices and appliances will be needed.
Berries, as well as fruits, have high acidity. That is why all the equipment, utensils and knives should be made of a material resistant to organic acids. It can be stainless steel or wood, enameled containers or glass. Tinned or aluminum cookware is acceptable. In the case when tools are unstable to the action of acids, finished products often acquire an odor and taste. The color becomes ink.
Water heating is best done in an enameled bucket or pan. Blanch the fruit preferably in a metal mesh basket made of stainless steel. Instead of a mesh, a gauze bag can be used.
Before blanching, the fruit must be thoroughly washed. Their seeds and stems are removed. After peeling, the vegetables are cut as they will be used in the future.
Put in boiling water should not be more than half a kilogram of fruit at a time. Cover the pot or bucket and count the right time. Each vegetable has its own blanching period. For cauliflower, it is three minutes, for whole carrots - five, for eggplant - four, for zucchini - two, etc. After cooling, the products are transferred to plastic bags or special containers for storage and placed in the freezer.