Word of the Week: Blanch
09/30/2015
You’ve probably heard the term “blanch,” but you may not have actually blanched anything. Or maybe you have, but you just didn’t realize that’s what you were doing! So how do you blanch something, and why?
“Blanch” is a cooking process that involves placing foods — usually fruits or vegetables — in boiling water briefly, then placing into or running under cold water. This stops the cooking process in order to retain the color, flavor, texture and nutrients of the fruit or vegetable. In some instances, blanching may just involve boiling a food in water for an extended period of time to remove certain flavors.
Used in a sentence:
The reason this asparagus is so good is because I blanched it to prevent it from getting soggy.
Now you know, so blanch away!
The image Asparagus Blanch by Rebecca Winzenreid is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
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