green beans part 2- processing them.

since some of you have asked how we got our beans ready for the freezer here's what we did. I have used this book for a long time its a great resource on how to prep almost anything. She also tells how to get seeds for next year, and how to order those plants you can't get locally, theres recipes, contacts groups and all kinds of information. I highly recommend it its a fun read too. I have taken it to softball games and just set and read it.She gives lots of information on living off the land, collecting rain water raising livestock, making soap, etc etc etc.




we cleaned the beans, I just filled the sink with clean water and gave them a quick rinse and shake, to get off the dirt, and snapped off the ends.




we blanched them in boiling water for three minutes, this stops the beans from decaying. I basically did about two cups at a time, this kept the quantity small enough to work with quickly, and kept us moving along .




after we boiled them for three minutes - no longer-, we scooped them out with a slotted spoon and plunged them into an ice bath- a big bowl with ice water. This stops the cooking process and makes them really nice and green.



after chilling in the ice bath for a couple of minutes we took them out and dried them off a bit on a dish towel , we just rolled them up int he towel and squeezed gently.




we filled our freezer bags, and pressed out the air, then put them in my freezer- also write on them whats in the bag and date processed, they keep about a year or more in the freezer.



I had 10 bags of these when done. I only filled the big freezer bags half way, because that's about a pound and usually what we eat at a time. The smaller size freezes a bit more evenly too. Just make sure you roll the bag up and press the air out.