According to my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook, blanching is a "heat-and-cool process". The point of which is to "stop or slow the enzymes that cause loss of flavor and color, and toughens the food." I am a visual learner, so I will use pictures to explain the process I used to blanch my beans.
Step #1: I removed the little strings from the green beans and cut off the ends. Then I cut mine into 1 inch pieces. You can leave them whole, if you prefer. Here are my beans, all chopped up and ready to go..
Step #2: Fill a pot with water and use a gallon per pound of vegetables. I had less than one pound, so I used one gallon. Bring the water to a boil...
Step #3: Add the beans, cover, and boil on high for 4 minutes. Start timing as soon as you put the beans in...
Step # 4: Immediately transfer beans to a colander and place the colander in a large bowl of ice water. Leave the beans in there for 4 minutes (the same amount of time you cooked them for)...
Step #5: Put the beans in a freezer container and make sure to leave 1/2 inch at the top.
Step #6: Store the beans in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can store them for 8-10 months. So, you can have all these fresh garden veggies all year round!
I ended up freezing all of beans and the carrots. Freezing the vegetables was a really quick and easy process. Here's a list of other veggies you can try and the blanching times:
Carrots: Blanch whole carrots for 5 minutes and cut-up carrots for 2 minutes.
Asparagus: Blanch small spears for 2 minutes, medium for 3 minutes, and large for 4 minutes.
Corn: Boil corn for 4 minutes. Cool quickly and then cut off the cob about 2/3 of the way through the kernel.
Peas: Blanch for 11/2 minutes for small flat pods, 2 minutes for larges flat pods, and 3 minutes for developed pods.
