What is blanching? We learn!

In cooking, there are many ways to preserve the attractive appearance of products, as well as their specific taste qualities, which can change under the influence of high temperatures. Such tricks include blanching. The root of this word comes from the French blanche, that is, "white". At one time, this culinary technique was used to preserve the color of meat and bones in broths. What is "blanching," and why do you need to do this?

Sometimes, in order for a ready dish to be bright and visually beautiful, it is required to preserve the original color of vegetables. Everyone knows that when cooking or quenching the same Bulgarian pepper, tomatoes, broccoli lose their original brightness and acquire a dull-brown hue. Here, in this case, blanching is used. After a similar treatment, the vegetables retain their natural color, as if being preserved. But what is "blanching", what is the essence of this process?

At the heart of this culinary method is the short-term treatment of products with hot water or steam. In this process, the upper layer of cells folds and fixes the contents in the original state. To do this, the food can be doused with hot steam in a sealed container, poured with boiling water or immersed in it for a short time (from 30 seconds to 5 minutes). Such a description allows briefly to explain the principle of such processing, and also clearly shows what blanching is. Vegetables, for example, do not have more than 2 minutes to process. But for meat, fish, poultry, solid products may need a longer time due to the denser texture.

This procedure also undergoes many products to eliminate the characteristic bitterness. For example, many mushrooms have enough unpleasant milky juice, which means that they should be blanched without fail. And after that, start cooking in the usual way. In addition to mushrooms for this purpose, sometimes eggplant is processed, bitterness is extracted from large fruits of cucumber, and game meat is also saved from lactic acid.

Very often in recipes using tomatoes, there is a need for their blanching before grinding or other culinary processing. This requirement is not uncommon in dishes of Italian or French cuisine, where tomatoes are the basis for many sauces. What is "blanching tomatoes" in this case? By this method it is meant to lower whole tomatoes in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. This is done in order that subsequently it is easy to remove the skin, which in fresh form is very difficult to scrape off. Before dipping tomatoes into boiling water, it is recommended to make a cross-cut on each of them, in order to start cleaning from this place.

A similar method is also used before freezing certain products, for example, greens or asparagus stems. What is "blanch the greens"? When briefly peeling with boiling water, the tender stalks of greens and asparagus do not have time to cook and change the color and taste, but at the same time become softer. In the case of greens, after this procedure it can be safely frozen, without the risk that eventually it will darken and wither in the freezer. But asparagus in this form can already be eaten - it will be an excellent side dish, gentle, soft and fragrant.