Kitchen Garden Forum

Happy New Year, all!
I've frozen a lot of runner beans this winter - slicing, blanching and freezing on a flat tray before bagging. But they invariably break up into little pieces (1-2") when my wife goes to take them out the bag. Any tips to reduce this happening, please?
John N

Oops! Think I've solved runner bean problem, sorry for stupid question. Chef at local pub tells me I'm not thoroughly drying sliced beans before I freeze them and they break up because there's too much water in the "flesh". He says they should be dried gently in a warm fan oven.

That's interesting John as the same thing's been happening to my beans. I'm just suprised they taste OK when they're eaten.

Hello John
I know this doesn't help your immediate problem but we mainly freeze french beans. The beans are 'topped n' tailed', then snapped into short lengths before finally blanching and freezing. As they are not sliced they are strong enough to stand the thawing out and stay intact.

Climbing french beans like 'Cobra' are extremely productive and I grow a 10ft double row just for this purpose - regularly picked and frozen it gives us more than enough until next season. I use a couple of wigwams to give us beans for immediate use.

John

I agree with John, the climbing French beans freeze and taste much better than the runner beans. My favourites are Mr. Fearn's Purple flowered and Poletschka from HSL and Cherokee Trail of Tears has been good.

I pick runner beans small and tender and try not to leave them to get huge. I don't think they are worth bothering with frozen, so just grow enough for eating fresh.

I'm not the cook or preserver but I guess you are cutting them too fine - are you using a knife or a machine?

Since part of this thread is about watery texture, have you considered freezing without blanching?

We generally try to use our frozen beans before Winter each year and never bother blanching. I can't say we've ever had a problem with them.

Now my mother used to religously blanch all veg going into the freezer. One summer, she didn't have time, so just diced them & froze them straight off. The results were almost indistinguishable!

After that, it didn't seem worth going through the extra steps involved in blanching (which seem to take a long time if you have any quantity of produce to freeze).

I'm sure that if you want to store for longer, it may help. What does everyone else reckon


Colin

You are right Colin, I wonder if the French beans taste better because I don't bother blanching them and just freeze them whole. My son said he had put some runner beans in the freezer for me when I was on holiday and he just stuffed them whole into freezer bags - I will try some and report back.

I have never found frozen runners very palatable, but I agree that french beans freeze well and I never blanch them either.

I have tried both methods and non-blanching is by far better and you dont waste time. I just then take them from the freezer and microwave them when needed. My kids can also do all the cutting up which they enjoy.

PLUMPUDDING wrote:I don't bother blanching them and just freeze them whole.

Hi PP, interesting to hear you have had the same experience.

One point though - we do dice both French beans and Runners (stringing these if req) so that we can take just what we want from the freezer and add it direct to dishes. I don't fancy having to defrost & then dice beans. This way, you can be a really lazy cook and just grab something from the freezer 10 minutes before serving up!


Colin

I would usually cut up the Runner beans before freezing - that's why I haven't tackled the ones my son froze whole yet. I do usually leave the french beans whole and cook and serve them whole. I just freeze them in meal sized portions. I'm probably just lazy.

When I have surplus runner or French beans to freeze I chop them into two or three inch chunks and after blancing, dry them on a clean tea towel and "open freeze" them on a tray in the freezer until they're hard. I then bag them up into convenient size bags. It takes a little longer than bagging them up when they're still moist after blanching but then they all congeal into a solid iced block and it's impossible to do anything with them.

In true lazybones fashion, that's another reason I avoid blanching!

Frozen "fresh and dry", you can just put the whole batch in a plastic bag and freeze them. Whilst they may stick together initially after freezing, a gentle bash generally separates them.

However I'm sure the approach of freezing on trays is faster, so probably better for nutrition etc


Colin

I have cooked some of the runner beans that my son had just shoved into bags whole while we were on holiday. They hadn't stuck together, I snapped them into smaller pieces (to get them in the pan, and they definitely tasted much better than blanched ones.

I won't bother blanching any more.