It’s the bean time of year here!  We delayed our two week working vacation due to sick children, and were rewarded at the farmers market this morning.  $12 for about 15 lbs of beans!  (or about 1/3 of a bushel)  One of our two favorite farmers, the one guy who grows everything for himself, had a LOT of beans and cut us a deal.  Happily, as the yard long noodle beans I was expecting to be our bean supply this year simply did not grow beans, I came home and froze ’em up!

Here’s the blow by blow. 

1)  Wash & trim beans (trimming means to take off the ends, just a tich) – I dump ’em in the sink & run cold water into them until they are all floating.  I then pull out any junk that arrived with them – leaves, grass, etc.

2) Cut beans – I like mine about an inch or slightly less in lenght.

3) Blanch beans – Find a big pot & pre-cook ’em for 3 minutes in a rolling boil

4) Cool beans – I run cold water thru them in the sink – it was pretty self explainatory and I didn’t take a picture.  This step is important because it stops the cooking process and you end up with crunchy beans when you finish cooking.  If you don’t?  Mush…

5) Bag beans – I use zip-loc bags and put up 2 cups into each small bag.  These small bags then went, 3-4 each, into gallon bags, so they don’t freezer burn.  Essentially, they’re double wrapped.

6) Freeze beans – Find a spot in the freezer & walk away until you need ’em! (I like to leave them flat while they’re freezing, so they become more like a sheet of paper to move later).

It’s really simple, and gives you a beautiful product to pull out of the freezer all year long.  Good freezing!  Corn when we get back!