Chef's Technique - Blanching

Blanching is a food preparation process where food, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into a large quantity of boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval and finally plunged into ice water to halt the cooking process. One key to proper blanching is to quickly regain a boil after the food is added. A large quantity of water will help with this. The longer green vegetables are cooked below a boil, the more green color is lost. The blanching water should be seasoned heavily with kosher salt. This seasons the vegetables from the inside out.

Following are uses of blanching:

1.      Peeling: Blanching loosens the skin on some fruits or nuts, such as onions, tomatoes, plums, peaches or almonds.

2.      Flavor: Blanching enhances the flavor of some vegetables, such as broccoli, by releasing bitter acids stored in the cellular structure of the food.

3.      Appearance: Blanching enhances the color of some (particularly green) vegetables by releasing gases trapped in the cellular material that obscure the greenness of the chlorophyll. Since blanching is done and halted quickly, the heat does not have time to break down the chlorophyll.

4.      Blanching neutralizes bacteria and enzymes present in foods, thus delaying spoilage. Blanching is often used as a preparatory step for freezing and refrigerating vegetables.

5.      Blanching also weakens the structure of vegetables rendering them softer than their fresh state; this is beneficial for canning vegetables where the air in vegetables needs to be minimal.

Blanching Technique:

1.      Start with a large quantity of cold water. Always start with cold water. Hot water will contain traces of minerals and metals that come from the hot water tank and pipes. 1 1/2 gallons of water is generally sufficient for most home blanching.

2.      Bring the water to a rolling boil and season with Red Diamond kosher salt. Adjust the seasoning of the water by tasting it and adding salt until the salt can be tasted. I sometimes will season the water until it tastes like the ocean, which will perfectly season vegetables, but will not leave room for additional salt to be used later.

3.      Prepare ice water for shocking the vegetables after they are done cooking. Make sure you have a lot of ice in the water. A larger volume of shocking water with more ice will help to stop the cooking process quicker, keeping the vegetables from overcooking.

4.      Blanch the vegetables until they are tender and bright green. Don't worry about using a timer, but instead taste the vegetables to determine when they are done. I use a pair of tongs to pull one out. Let it cool slightly and then taste. A perfectly blanched vegetable should be tender, but still a little crisp.

5.      Immediately shock the vegetables. Only keep the vegetables in the shocking water until they are cold. Keeping them in the water for too long will cause them to become water logged.

And these are the secrets to perfectly blanched vegetables.