I would love to freeze some wax beans but I am always disappointed with the soggy results .

C

cynupstateny

Well-known member
I usually trim , cut, and blanch, ice water bath, dry them as much as possible and put them in freezer bags . Does anyone have a better method?

 
Cyn, I'm on my third batch of Kentucky pole beans cooked in the small crock pot. It's a Thai

based recipe: coconut milk, tomatoes, Thai chili sauce, ginger. I really, really like it and the neighbors are grateful to have someone else eating the surplus. Green beans seem to be the zucchini of the mountain area: you sneak on someone's porch in the dead of night and leave the excess.

I wonder if you can par-cook your beans in the crock pot (using your own recipe) to a stable point, cool, freeze, defrost and reheat. Or maybe toss the frozen batch in boiling water? That way you wouldn't be dealing with fresh cells; they would have already been cooked. I'll toss a small test batch in the freezer and give you a status update tomorrow. Please note that mine are already 100% cooked, so not exactly what you're going for, but I'll be able to tell you how much the taste and texture is impacted by the freezing step.

I've eaten more green beans since finding this recipe than my entire life up to this point.

Just in case you want to try this, I've linked the recipe. I cook on high for 2 hours, shut if off and then leave it to cool. I've been serving it over Tasty Bite Stir-Fried Brown Rice in the 90-second packages. Those last three condiments are CRITICAL. The dish comes alive with them.

https://finerkitchens.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=256377

 
Just pulled a chunk of frozen green bean/tomato out of freezer and zapped for 1 minute. No

discernible difference, although it was cooked (obviously) a bit more.
I've got the rest of the sample thawing in the refrigerator and will check on that later, heating it for less time.

 
Marilyn, your Thai green bean recipe looks yum! I wonder if the reason the beans...

don't get mushy, after that amount of time in the cooker, is because they're being cooked together with tomatoes?

I found this article that discusses the relationship between beans, acidity and cooking times. It also brings up the matter of cooking temperature and the texture of beans. Always learning....

https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/forget-al-denta-braised-green-beans-thanksgiving-food-lab.html

 
Try freezing some raw, Cyn. Do you have a vacuum sealer by any chance?

I have done that in the past- mostly because I was overwhelmed by garden beans and out of time. I found it works pretty well but you need to use the thawed beans in something that will slow cook them. They come out tougher than blanched beans but still very edible and tasty. Just make sure you get as much air out of the bag you freeze in as you can.

 
I've always tossed them in boiling water. The way I eat them probably sounds crazy if you didn't

grow up eating them this way. My grandmother and mother both did them the same way and we all love it!

You cook the beans until crisp tender, drain well, and add crumbled Ritz crackers, butter and a lot of pepper!

Weird, right?

 
Just tasted one of the previously frozen straight from the frig. It did not change texture. Ruth

may have figured it out...having cooked them with tomatoes. I just know I'll be freezing batches of this stuff now for as long as the neighbor gives me beans.

Thanks, Cyn and Ruth! I learned something new today.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top