[Russell Atterbury]

My attempt at keeping french climbing beans in the freezer is, if i had to put a success rate on it, only 60 percent to my liking. I picked them and washed under cold running water, shook most off, then put in bags with the air sucked out and froze directly. They are ok, and if there is not a better way then i would continue this way. But a 40 percent loss is a lot in taste and texture, so does anyone have a better way?

[Yorkie]

How long had they been in the freezer when you ate them?

I always open freeze, which means putting them on a tray in a single layer, then bagging them up after they've frozen. If they're going to be in the freezer longer than a month or two, I blanch them first - dunk them in boiling water for a minute or two, then take them out and cool them rapidly to stop them cooking. This preserves them for longer. But even so, they aren't as good as fresh beans - I don't think we have the rapid freezing technology that commercial companies do, which would really make the difference.

[Russell Atterbury]

Thanks Yorkie, so it's all about rapid freezing for the best possible results. Like you say, it is out of scope for the normal home bod. As a child i remember my father breaking open glass sweet jars of salted runners, which seemed perfect to me at this young age. Also a lot of work it looked to be while i helped out a bit, brothers included. I can get used to eating the ones, frozen for more than 2 months now as i am working out how to cook them better.

[snowdrops]

I found salted runners better than frozen, either blanched or unblanched. I just needed to learn to wash the salt off sooner in the day as they took some rinsing  . Was going to try french beans last year but never had a glut

[Growster...]

I had a building job back in the nineties, working on a new building for a frozen food company.

While assessing the various prcedures in freezing peas, beans etc, they had a special water spray attachment on the line, for 'glazing'! All it did was spray the veg just before freezing, so the stuff didn't stick together.

I never, ever, even thought of mentioning to my client that the 'glazing' retail cost was exactly the same as the peas and beans, all rolling loosely around in their bright green packaging...

[Russell Atterbury]

Yes  snowdrops, my memory tells me that the salted ones dad used to do came out almost unchanged from fresh. Okay, it was probably within two months of picking. The kids job was cutting the beans into inch and half long pieces, and that's all i remember of the process. And Growster's experience makes it interesting for me if he knows how fast, fast freezing takes.....I can imagine seconds is possible.

[Growster...]

Yes  snowdrops, my memory tells me that the salted ones dad used to do came out almost unchanged from fresh. Okay, it was probably within two months of picking. The kids job was cutting the beans into inch and half long pieces, and that's all i remember of the process. And Growster's experience makes it interesting for me if he knows how fast, fast freezing takes.....I can imagine seconds is possible.

I guess you may be correct there, Russell, but it was so cold, I never stayed in the room long enough to find out..:0~

And also, I looked ridiculous in the little hats, booties and other PPE stuff which was of course needed for their superbly clean environment! I still have a sample floor tile, which was seriously expensive, and showed how well they prepared their peas, beans and icecrystals...

[hasbeans]

I use a salad spinner to shake off more of the water crystals for both blanched and fresh frozen and that helps dry them better than shaking by hand.  For blanching I think it's all about not doing too many at once so the water temp doesn't drop in the pan when boiling and keeping the water as close to ice cold as possible to stop the cooking once out of the pan. 

There's probably some value in trying to pick and blanch them during cooler times too as the enzymes start breaking down quickly on a hot day.

[New shoot]

The water misting on mass produced frozen veg is needed as they sit packed in boxes on top of one another for a long time.  If you defrost them, you will get some water dripping off, but most carry instructions to cook from frozen as it gives you a better end result.  Frozen veg is vastly cheaper than fresh, so the bit of ice you buy in the bag is neither here nor there.

The same technique is used on a lot of frozen goods. It sticks pizza toppings on and makes sure breaded chicken and fish fingers don’t end up as separate piles of breadcrumbs and chicken or fish in the pack 

At home, blanching and open freezing are enough.  If you cook from frozen, that helps as well 

[Growster...]

The water misting on mass produced frozen veg is needed as they sit packed in boxes on top of one another for a long time.  If you defrost them, you will get some water dripping off, but most carry instructions to cook from frozen as it gives you a better end result.  Frozen veg is vastly cheaper than fresh, so the bit of ice you buy in the bag is neither here nor there.

The same technique is used on a lot of frozen goods. It sticks pizza toppings on and makes sure breaded chicken and fish fingers don’t end up as separate piles of breadcrumbs and chicken or fish in the pack 

At home, blanching and open freezing are enough.  If you cook from frozen, that helps as well 

Thank you, News, I really didn't know that!

So I take it all back, Mr Freezerman, and try and learn a bit more than just putting the building up...

(Actually, it was an incredibly difficult scheme - my first for a new firm, and although we liked them all there, we got fed up with the continual changes they kept making in the design - but that's crystals water under the bridge now - in fact I was out in the front garden last summer, and my old client stopped outside for a chat! I hadn't seen him for thirty years, and we got on like a house on fire)!

[New shoot]

It always amazes me the odd shapes veg bags come out of the box when we are filling up stock at work.  You would think they would be flat in there, but most look like they have been dropped in from a height.  Maybe they have   

Anyway a quick tap on the freezer side loosens all the contents and they sit flat again.

I am not really a frozen veg nerd, honest!  I just asked one day at work because of freeform shapes of the stock I was putting out