Freezing French Beans

[thesunflowergal]

Hi All

Can anyone tell me whats I best way to freeze french beans please?

I bought a whole load of radishes, celery, french and runner beans from my parents local farm shop for £3. Fab quality and organic too

Thanks Nikki

[123sologne]

£3 for all these goodies! Fantastic!

For the beans, clean them up, then blanch them in boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes; take them out of the pan and straight into some cold water. Finally in a sieve, let them dry a bit then in bags and in the freezer.
That is the way I have done some and they were just fine.

[Carltonian Man]

Agree with you there Sologne. We blanch ours for 2mins, apparently it breaks down the enzymes that otherwise cause the beans to not last in the freezer.

[Broad Bean]

I don't bother blanching and the beans stay good and fresh, especially if you cook them direct from frozen rather than defrosting them.

[oldjerry]

I can never be a---d to blanche them either and they seem to keep ok ( we salt runners for overwintering,and only get the french beans out when the mother-in-law comes round).Good tip though , if you dont already,lay them out on flat pans in the freezer for an hour ,then bag them up,then you can take out a just a few at a time.