Blanching unique culinary technology

Blanching (from French blanchir) is a method of heat treatment of vegetables, fruit or meat where the product is shortly absorbed in hot water or steam. What generally follows is a shock, which rapidly cools the product in cold water or cold air. Blanching is an important process in the canning and defrosting industry before freezing and conserving.

Blanched meat will remain more succulent for further heat treatment. Furthermore, this heat treatment method is used for easier removal of membranes. In fruit and vegetables, this method is helping removing the skin of products such as tomatoes, peaches, apricots and the like. Due to the short-term exposure to higher temperatures, vitamins, taste and color will be retained in the food, while micro-organisms that cause damage during preservation, may be destroyed. This will preserve higher quality of food, for example, frozen vegetables have a fresher color and better taste. Some products (spinach) lose an unpleasant taste after blanching.

Blanching is essential when preparing fruits and vegetables before freezing, to stop the action of enzymes that can cause loss of taste, smell and color. Inactivation of enzymes is very important in this process.

There have been many studies on the effects of blanching on vegetables and fruits. The relative advantages of water blanching over steam blanching have been studied and it has been concluded that water steam blanching is more effective in protecting soluble nutrients.

Time is important for blanching. Molecular changes occur – plant fibers become softer, pigments modify colour plus enzymes become deactivated. Therefore, it is important to maintain the blanching time and then complete the blanching treatment by shock, immersion of the product in cold water or cooling with cold air. Vegetable or fruit in particular can be sensitive to heat.

Vegetables are blanching even so that it can be quickly fried or deep fried in a pan or deep fryer. A short time in a frying pan or deep fryer would not be enough to cook it thoroughly. In this case, the vegetables are no longer shocked.

Blanching and cooling is a suitable method for vegetables, which is applicable in salads eg. broccoli, carrots and the like. Green beans can be blanched for softening their natural colour.

Blanching is also a unique technique to prevent browning avocados. For some heat-sensitive products, blanching replaces cooking, and is sometimes the only way of culinary processing.

Blanched food retains a high proportion of vitamins and beneficial substances, has a saturated color, an attractive aroma and taste.