Freezing Green Beans
 

I just saw on one site that one can freeze green beans without blanching them.

Have any of you tried that? And what did you think of the result?

I've always blanched them before freezing the beans.

I grow a lot of green beans and don't blanche. Wash, drain on a cloth, chop and weigh into roughly 250g portion polybag, freeze. Very young beans are left whole. They go into boiling water to cook and I can taste no difference to fresh. I do generally get through them all within 12 months ready for the next crop.

I am growing pea beans for the first time this year. Has anyone tried these?

I've always blanched mine too and once cooled, drained and dry I place them onto a cookie sheet and freeze them uncovered, then place them into a freezer bag. This seems to keep the ice crystals from forming on them as much. I do this technique on all the veggies and fruits I freeze.

I used to do a lot of freezing, but now I don't really have the space. I really like the individual freezing like what Snooze is talking about, you can portion out what you want easier.

For larger amounts, I like using the (emptied) waxed paper milk cartons. Either open up the top so you can close it again, or just cut if off. Clean and then fill with what you want to store, cover with water almost to the top and freeze. Some things you may want to put a weight on it to keep whatever it is down, otherwise once it is frozen I put on a new cap of ice to keep everything protected. For long term storage, put a cap over it, can just be butcher paper and a rubber band.

Remember that water swells up when it freezes, leave half an inch of space.

You can (typically) cut through the carton with a sturdy serrated knife if you don't want to use the whole thing.

Mostly I did this with rhubarb but have done it with beans and other things.

Iceblossom, that's the way we used to freeze fish when my dad caught too many. Always in ice. Never thought of it for vegies. It would protect the same way, thanks.

i used to help Mother clean chickens and we would pack chickens in waxed milk cartons then fill with water and freeze.

I never cared to freeze much because it seems like we never checked the freezer for food & when we did most of it was freezer burned. We bought a Food Saver (vaccum system that sucks all the air out of bags) and since then we have had no problem with freezer burn or ice crystals on our frozen foods. I've also discovered for "mushy" type foods I freeze the "mush" first in a small plastic container then take the frozen item out of the plastic container & vaccum seal it while still in the frozen state. This keeps the Food Saver from sucking the moisture up & out of the bag while trying to seal it. If the bag is wet at the top on the inside it will not seal properly. We've saved a lot of food by using this system.

Osewme, I had one of those vacumn sealers years ago when they first came out. Since then I use the "cheap" method. I add my item into the freezer bag, close the bag to just about an inch from the end and put a plastic straw thru the opening down to about halfway down the size of the bag. Then I suck out the air, quickly remove the straw and close the bag up. Works for me and its a cheap fix. And since I fast freeze my produce before I put them into the bag, they're not stuck to each other either.

I've always blanched and then immediately plunged in ice water. Drained then froze. But since I switched over my dogs to a raw diet, freezer space is always at a premium so now when I have a lot of green beans I pressure can them. I like the flavor of home canned just as good but the texture is like canned green beans. Luckily I like them both ways.