Why blanch veggies?

I watched a Good Eats show 9/14/14 with Alton Brown talking freezing veggies, fruits, and meats.

How to prevent freezer burn on meats.
Wrap individual pieces in two layers of clear wrap, then 2 layers of heavy duty foil, tucking in the ends before freezing.  Label the foil with item and date.


Why blanch vegs before freezing.
The answer to that is that most have enzymes that continue to ripen the veggies even after picked and freezing doesn't kill the enzymes, hence you get brown and mushy vegs when you open your package.  There's a way to prevent that: Blanching.
There are charts online with times to blanch (boil quickly) different veggies.  Then chilling quickly in ice water.
Alton's method is to be sure the veggies are completely dry before freezing.  Drain ice-water-chilled veggies well and pour them onto layers of paper towels and roll them around to dry them quite a bit.  They'll still have moisture and to fix that, place the veggies in a single layer on cookie sheets and refrigerate a few hours.  The refrigeration dries the surface moisture.
Then you put single layers of veggies on sheets in the freezer til they freeze.  When frozen, put them in freezer bags and be sure to suck out all the air with a straw.  Label bags and keep up to one year.


I was most interested in the freezing peaches segment because I hope to have lots of peaches next year from my dwarf tree.
Take 1 lb of pitted and peeled peaches and slice them about 1/2" thick.
Grind up 1 teaspoon (about 3 tablets) of chewable Vit. C tablets.  Add to this 4 oz sugar and 1/2 teas smoked paprika (if you have this paprika, not necessary).   Grind together. 
Place the peaches and the dry mix in a freezer bag, remove all the air, and seal it.
Smoosh it around so that the dry mix covers all the peaches and their juices.  Freeze up to 1 year.


I learned quite a bit today.  I hope this helps at least one other person on the board.

Good info!  For the peaches though you can also use lemon juice or buy fruit fresh; that would be easier than grinding up your own.

+1! 

Also, you can get pharmaceutical grade ascorbic acid (Vit C) in powder form.  That's what I use.  Check your local nutritional store.