Sheldon wrote:
> Ken Knecht wrote:
>> Why is blanching suggested for food to be frozen? For example, I looked
>> up celery in a book on freezing stuff I have and it tells me to blasnch
>> the celery for three minutes before freezing. Cool off, then bag and
>> freeze. What does the blanching do? What would happen if I didn't bother
>> to? Anyone know?
>
> As far as I know blanching hasn't a whit to do with enzymes/bacteria,
> freezing is what preserves the vegetable in total and at the same time
> controls any further decay/decomposition. If blanching were a
> necessary process for preservation there'd be no need to then
> subsequently freeze.

The operative phrase here is "as far as I know", because as usual you
*don't* know what you are talking about. ;-)

Freezing halts bacteria action, which will start up again when you thaw
the stuff out -- it doesn't kill all the bacteria (it probably kill some
of them) it just temporarily stops them.

Blanching destroys enzymes in the vegetables that would otherwise cause
them to discolor, or change taste and texture. Freezing slows down
enzymatic activity but does stop it completely.

Best regards,
Bob