From Farm to Freezer: Beans

Here's the second installment of my From Farm to Freezer Series.

This time we'll look at freezing beans.

 

( reminder: I do not claim to be an expert, this is the first year that I've tried this - with the help of my friend Google (lol), I'm just really hoping for the best and that I can save my family some money! )

 

 

So here is what I did with the beans!

 

 

1. I dumped the bag of beans into a sink full of lukewarm water. I handed Orangie our veggie scrub brush and said 'go to it!'. She scrubbed the beans and tossed them into the big colander waiting in the other sink.

 

2. Hero and I grabbed the freshly scrubbed beans out of the colander and each had our knives and cutting boards where we would cut the ends off the beans and then chop the beans into approx 1.5 in pieces.

 

3. Then it was time to 'blanch' them. I had a big pot of boiling water waiting. I think we ended up doing 3 blanch sessions so we didn't overcrowd the pot. Basically you take the chopped beans and you boil them for 4-5 mins.

 

4. When the timer goes off get the beans out of the boiling water ASAP and into a sink full of COLD COLD water (to stop the cooking).

 

5. After they had cooled down they went to the table with the big clean dishtowel on it to dry off.

 

6. When dry(or close enough) get those beans into freezer bags! Remember not to fill too full! Suck the air out with a straw(so less frostiness occurs). Zip it shut.

 

7. Freeze!

( I read that they last in the freezer up to 9 months. I know that mine certainly won't be in there that long!)

 

 

And there you have it. This is what I did to freeze/preserve my farm fresh green beans! :)

 

If you missed the post on what I did what the zucchini's..go HERE.

 

I promise to get the rest of my From Farm to Freezer up a little quicker from now on!

 

 

What do you do with your beans?