Freezing Peas

[bonniethomas06]

Quick question... I have several buckets of peas to shell and freeze tonight (!). Do I need to blanch these before I freeze them?

Can't wait. Not!

[Odsox]

Yes, otherwise they will taste manky if frozen for more than a month.
We have had "lost" frozen peas over two years old that still tasted good.
OH blanches them so I don't know how long, I seem to remember 2 minutes but don't hold me to it.

[greenorelse]

I'd say it depends upon when you're going to use them. Six weeks to two months and they'll be fine, especially at the recommended -18C. Any longer and yes, blanch.

We often freeze stuff as-is when we know we'll use it fairly soon. Tomatoes, for instance, can be just frozen after a quick rinse under the tap.

[wabbit955]

blaching is best kills any bugs to

[JulieSherris]

Hmmm.... I have to disagree.

My mum used to blanch just about everything, oh - by blanching I do of course mean she boiled them to within an inch of their lives!!

So I don't.... nothing... apart from broad beans & that's only because I like to slip them out of their jackets for the freezer. I just pop the podded peas into bags & straight into the freezer, adding more peas until the bag is full.
Runner beans, I slice & again into a bag & straight in - and so far, so good!

Maybe it's a personal taste thing?

[bonniethomas06]

Thanks all - I read this last night up to just before Julie's post and so they got blanched - but only for about a minute, so the skins are barely wrinkly. Then frozen flat and put in a freezer bag an hour later.

Seems OK so far, but they won't last longer than six weeks anyway - especially when we come to freezing homemade chips (this weekend). The temptation to fry an egg, chips and peas when we are feeling lazy is just too overwhelming!

[Odsox]

Maybe it's a personal taste thing?

It must be Julie as I can't stand frozen runner beans, blanched or not, after a few weeks in the freezer.
I love them fresh, but the only way I like them preserved is salted, and the word "like" is a bit of an exaggeration.

Broad beans and peas un-blanched always seem to me to have an unpleasant winey taste after a while in the freezer, but then you all know I'm strange.

[gregorach]

Well, I know they get blanched for commercial freezing... I believe it stops the sugars from being broken down. But blanching only means a minute or two in boiling water followed by rapid cooling, rather than Julie's mum's approach...

[Millymollymandy]

I don't blanch anything as it's just a waste of time IMO - I've tried both over the years and found it makes no difference. But then there are not many veg that I freeze any more other than beans (not runner or french type) and peas and parsnips, cos I don't like frozen runner beans and french beans just turn to rubber, blanched or not.

I do make a lot of courgette soup however and that lasts at least a year - need to eat a lot of it to make room for this year's!

[MKG]

Rules, MMM!!!!!

Courgette soup recipe, please

Any excuse for getting them out of the bloody way for a while.

Mike

[Millymollymandy]

Oh Mike - well I don't really follow the recipe as I've found it is totally dependant on the size of your courgettes therefore the bigger they are the less stock you need to add (as they are full of moisture).

Basically it's Courgette, Basil and Parmesan soup and is the only soup I haven't yet got mighty bored with!

This is the recipe I was initially given but I never look at it (and please note you need FAR less liquid than that), don't weigh anything - just sort of chuck it all in, blitz with a blitzer and hey presto.

3 1/2 lbs (1.575kg) courgettes
4oz (110g) butter
2 onions
3 pints (1600ml) well flavoured stock
3oz (75g) parmesan
Big bunch of basil

Sweat chopped onions in butter with the pan covered over a low heat. Slice courgettes and put on top of the onions and let them sweat with the lid on for about 10 minutes.
Add half the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until tender. Stir in most of the basil roughly chopped.
Process when cool.
Now add most of the parmesan and the rest of the stock. Reheat gently. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.
Serve with a bit of parmesan sprinkled on the top and a few basil leaves to decorate.