In article .com>,
wrote:

> I know the term blanching, but have never seen it done first hand.
> (Unless it involves a streetcar or a tin roof.) DO you get water
> boiling first, and then dunk the food in the water, perhaps with a
> perforated pot insert?

I've always done it that way, Jim. Submerge in boiling water for x
minutes and chill in ice water for at least 2x minutes. I use a
collapsible wire basket thingy.

Here's the poop from the NCHFP -- they say chill in ice water for the
same amount of time as the streetcar -- er-r-r, the blanch.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze/blanching.html

> Or else held above the water with a steamer
> basket?

That's covered, too. Steam-blanching looks fussier to me - have to
arrange stuff in one layer only vs. dumping into large quantity of
boiling water.

>And for how long?

For however long the blanching instructions state.

> I have a dehydrator that I usee only
> occasionally, but when the instructions call for blanching I am still
> clueless.

You're a man. (Oh, stop! I'm KIDDING!")

> Meantime I agree -- freezing peppers works fine; my dehydrated
> attempts (peppers) were useless after.

-Barb, desiring to help
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> Sweet Potato Follies added 2/24/05.
"I read recipes the way I read science fiction: I get to the end and
say,'Well, that's not going to happen.'" - Comedian Rita Rudner,
performance at New York, New York, January 10, 2005.