#blanching

Blanching, also sometimes called scalding, is the process of boiling something for a short period of time. It is then placed in a cooling bath to stop the cooking process. I grew up strictly using this technique on peaches and tomatoes because my mom told me to, and it's only more recently that I gained a true understanding of what blanching is and why we do it.

What Gets Blanched?

This technique is frequently used on produce that you plan to freeze or dehydrate. I have a bunch of Swiss chard in my kitchen right now that I will blanch for freezing.

It can also be used to release peels, making it easier to process something. I use it most on peaches before making jam, but many people blanch their tomatoes to remove the skins (I often leave the skins on my tomatoes, but I may change that practice).

Why is Blanching Important?

"Most bacteria, yeasts, and molds are difficult to remove from food surfaces. Washing fresh food reduces their numbers only slightly. Peeling root crops, underground stem crops, and tomatoes reduces their numbers greatly." USDA Guide to Home Canning

For freezing and dehydrating foods, you can think of blanching as a form of pasteurization. It kills the bacteria and such on the produce, which helps prevent spoilage (which is less common but still possible with any preservation process).

For preparing peaches and tomatoes, it removes the skins that are most likely to harbor harmful agents that can be very difficult to remove from washing alone.

What Blanching Isn't

When you blanch your green beans or chard or whatever, you are not fully cooking it. You only want it in the boiling water as long as necessary. For peeling purposes it's usually just until the skins split. For freezing and dehydrating it ranges a bit, but is usually around 3 minutes (there are a lot of great guides out there, including the USDA Guide to Home Canning, last updated in 2015 or the Ball Jar Blue Book). The timer doesn't start until the water is back to a rolling boil.

When you go to use your dehydrated or frozen produce, you will still need to cook it, if it's something you don't generally eat raw.

Culinary Tumbler, is blanching peaches to peel them just a big instead joke??

I've seen posts saying to boil them for 7-8minutes, and others saying 40seconds

And some to ice-dunk them after, and others saying to let them just kinda hang out in the hot water.

Videos show them peeling SUPER cleanly, and staining the meat red from the skin

But gosh darn if I EVER get this to do more than make my peaches turn brown (＠_＠;)

They don't peel no matter how long, or how hot, or if I ice them