Blanching is to process raw materials with steam, hot water or boiling water. The purpose of this procedure is to destroy enzymes, destroy microorganisms and remove air from the tissues.
Before freezing vegetables and greens ora certain type of fruit, it is also desirable to try out them. This method of cooking will significantly slow down, and sometimes even completely halt the damaging effects of enzymes. At the same time, the color, aroma and structure of the product will remain.
What does it mean to blanch vegetables?This means putting them in a gauze pouch, metal mesh or colander. Thus products can be in a whole kind or preliminary cut on slices. How to blanch the fruit with this? 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 between two and five minutes. In order to comply with the required temperature regime (from eighty-five to ninety degrees), water should be intensively heated.
After the processing, vegetables and fruits should be immediately cooled. For this, ice water is used, into which a container with products is placed.
In order to prepare fruits or greens for blanching at home, certain utensils and tools are needed. You will need simple devices and devices.
Berries, as well as fruits have increasedacidity. That is why all inventory, dishes and knives should be made of a material resistant to organic acids. It can be stainless steel or wood, enamelled containers or glass. Suitable dishes are tinned or aluminum. In the case when instruments that are unstable to the action of acids are used, the finished products often acquire an alien odor and smell. The color becomes an ink color.
Water heating is best done in enameledbucket or pan. Blanch the fruit preferably in a metal mesh basket made of stainless steel. Instead of a grid, a gauze pouch can be used.
Place in boiling water should not be morehalf a kilogram of fruit at a time. A pan or a bucket is covered with a lid and the right time is counted. For each vegetable there is a period of blanching. It has three minutes of color, five for carrots, four for eggplant, two for squash, and so on. After cooling, the products are transferred to plastic bags or special storage containers and placed in a freezer.