How to Preserve Green Beans

Oh the sights and smells of summer!  I have many good memories of my mom and grandmother working in the garden - then sitting on the porch preparing vegetables for canning or the freezer.


This week I bought a bunch of green beans from Kellogg Valley Farms and froze them.  This is how I did it.

Start with the end in mind.  Pinch the ends off or use a paring knife. While doing this, inspect the beans for spots that should be removed.


My grandmother would snap the beans in pieces, but I thought it was faster to use my chef's knife and cut them.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil then blanch the beans for 2-3 minutes.

Then stop the cooking process by putting your beans into an ice bath.  My giant stock pot has a colander inside of it, so I pulled the colander out and was able to pour the beans into icy cold water in my sink.

If you have a salad spinner, use it to dry the beans.  If you have a little boy who's willing to help, this is a perfect job for him.  We even talked about centrifugal force.

Dump the beans onto a clean, dry towel.

At this point you can either bag the beans in a zip top bag or go to Lisa's house and use her vacuum packer.  I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you wanted to use her machine, too.  :)