How to Preserve Green Beans
Today I’d like to teach you how to preserve green beans so that you can enjoy fresh beans during the long winter months!
Some vegetables from the garden taste so much better than store bought, and I believe that green beans are one of them. Green beans are so tender, flavourful, and fresh right from the garden or farmers market. Knowing how to preserve green beans properly can allow you to enjoy that fresh taste even in the middle of winter.
Also, preserving foods allows you to purchase in bulk when items are their cheapest, saving you big money.
How to Preserve Green Beans
Green beans, like all vegetables contain enzymes which break down over time. To ensure that the nutrients are kept in the vegetable, it’s important to prepare them properly for preserving. Blanching your green beans prevents the action of the enzyme from breaking down the nutrients.
Blanching is a brief heating of the vegetable which destroys the enzyme that deteriorates the nutrients. This can be done with boiling water or steam.
Here is one simple method for preserving green beans:
Pick your beans and preserve as soon as possible. If you need to wait a bit to preserve, store your beans in the fridge.
Trim and cut. Trim the ends off of your beans and cut to whatever size you like.
Wash, wash, wash. Rinse your beans very well with cool water.
Prepare. You will need 2 pots. One with boiling water and one with ice water.
Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil and put your beans in for 3 minutes, boiling rapidly. Start timing your beans as soon as they return to a boil. You want to use a lot of water and few beans so they return to a boil very quickly.
Immediately drain, rinse with cold water, and plunge into the ice water (this prevents overcooking). Keep them in the ice water for 3 minutes. Continue to add ice to keep the beans cold. (Tip: I like to freeze water in containers to form bigger ice cubes as they take longer to melt.)
Bag the beans. You are now ready to bag and freeze your green beans. Use a good quality zip-top freezer bag. Push out all extra air (or use a straw to suck it out), label, and freeze.
These preserved green beans can be enjoyed for up to 9 months straight from your freezer. Garden fresh – all winter long!
Knowing how to preserve your food is a wonderful way to save money and provide healthy food for your family. Buying ripe food, in bulk, and in season and preserving right away ensures your biggest savings!
What food items do you preserve?
Comments
Can you do this with any veggie?
Preserving changes a bit depending on what type of veggie you are preserving.
We always freeze tomatoes from the garden to use in homemade sauce during the winter!
Cut out the hard stem part at the top and freeze on a bakin sheet, then transfer to ziploc bags after a few hours, skin and all! When you’re ready to use them just hold a tomato under running warm water for a few seconds and the skin just slips off and you’re good to go:)
I’ve done this too when I’ve had freezer space and a bumper crop of tomatoes-nothing could be easier!
I’m a rebel, I’ve never blanched anything before freezing and it has looked and tasted just fine!
We have tomatoes coming out our ears right now! I am going to throw them in the freezer right now so I can stop stressing out about using them for Ketchup before they go bad. Great tip
Teacher Mum – you are a rebel – you go on with your bad self!!! 🙂 My hubby has done this too – I use them pretty quick when he does – but I don’t notice a taste difference either. I don’t really understand the chemistry behind the reasoning too much. But when my Granny says to blanch – Goodness knows I am going to blanch!!!
You only need to cut off the stem end. The blossom end is perfectly edible and not tough. I am not sure why people cut off this end, besides it doubles your work.
I cook the fully cook the beans whole in a large steamer, tray freeze so they are individual string beans, and then just microwave as much as I need to warm them up, saves lots of cooking each time.
Your kidding! That is so funny how we just do what we do without really giving it much thought. My Mama always cut both ends, so that is just what I have always done – learn something new everyday! Will have to put it to a taste test. Thank you for the tip!
Do you add the beans wet to the freezer bag or do they have to air dry?
Hi Teena! I just put them in the bag wet – just room temperature 🙂
If you are freezing them in supper sized batches, no need to worry about drying them. If you want them in larger bags such that you scoop out what you want, I’d dry them and flash freeze them on a cookie sheet then bag them. That way they aren’t one big frozen bean ball!