Freezing runner beans?

For those who have problems with the taste/texture of frozen beans, perhaps it's the cooking method? Blanched and frozen beans - runner or French- seem to need much shorter cooking time than fresh.

Hi Ladies. Why not make some delicious chutney with your spare beans. It will keep well in the fridge for months. A reminder of summer days in the middle of winter.

I don`t blanch any veg,just pop them in the freezer.

I have been growing beanz all my adult life. I used to freeze with quick blanch then into iced water (icecubes) then into portioned plastic bags and air removed with a straw before sealing. Not the same as fresh but good enough for tossing in a stirfry... At the moment and in past couple of years = no surplus! I am not sure about the salt method? does all the goodness not end up in the discarded liquid??

I love runner beans but not from the supermarket. They are cut too big. DH used to grow them and we ate them when they were still young enough not to need stringing.
But I agree that they are slightly disappointing frozen. Don't slice them too fine.

I agree with you Romola about harvesting when medium sized as do not need stringing and also encourages other to come on.

Don't bother blanching, just straight into the freezer . I do that , no problems .

I always grew enough runner beans to last the year. Blanched one minute, plunged into freezing water, dried throughly and froze with freezer at the lowest temperature.
Unfortunately I haven’t had any runner beans since I had to give up gardening when I was 92.

So basically I've got to slice them thinly or not too thinly and either blanch them or not blanch them!
I think I slice them medium thickness and blanch briefly!

Beans need to be young to freeze successfully, from my
experience.Didn’t grow any this year, now I wish we had!

I never blanche runner beans. Just cut them and freeze them. It works fine for me.

eddiecat78

So basically I've got to slice them thinly or not too thinly and either blanch them or not blanch them!
I think I slice them medium thickness and blanch briefly!

😄😄

I have never blanched any veg but I invested in a vacuum sealer and it is the BEST thing since sliced bread ...in my humble opinion! You can either open freeze whatever veg (for a couple of hours) or not, pop them in a vacuum bag and seal. They are then very flat so no bulky poly bags with clips.

eddiecat78

So basically I've got to slice them thinly or not too thinly and either blanch them or not blanch them!
I think I slice them medium thickness and blanch briefly!

I've got a cheap and cheerful bean slicer.

[[https://www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Krisk-Runner-Stringer-Slicer/dp/B0001IXA9Y?th=1&tag=gransnetforum-21]

Other retailers available (and preferable!)

Callistemon21

eddiecat78

So basically I've got to slice them thinly or not too thinly and either blanch them or not blanch them!
I think I slice them medium thickness and blanch briefly!

I've got a cheap and cheerful bean slicer.

]

Other retailers available (and preferable!)

Yes, whatever!
Sometimes I blanch, sometimes I don't!
I think they keep a bit better if blanched briefly.

I buy some frozen veg. Most work. But not keen on frozen runner beans. Weird tang to them. Maybe me. Do so love fresh green runner beans, though. Especially raw! And home-grown. 😍

Yay, not only me! I have chopped, froze! I have blanched, dried, froze! SAME result each time, RUBBER beans in winter! Current crop are too small to harvest,not a problem, we're scoffing 3 types of French (very successful experiment, dwarf, semi dwarf and climber, black, yellow, green, all in same hole!)

Change the type of beans you grow. Look at the packets and make sure they say “ ideal for freezing “
Then if they don’t turn out well?
It’s probably that your freezer isn’t up to the job of fast freezing. Check how old it is and if it’s getting on a bit, the following season see if you can find someone who has a newer model and do the initial freezing in their freezer. ( chap on my old allotment site says his wife does that for his runners, peas and broad beans )