Blanching

Blanching (French blanchir — “to whiten”) is a culinary technique of brief heat treatment of a product, in which it is immersed for a few seconds or minutes in boiling water (or steamed), and then immediately transferred to iced water to sharply stop the cooking. This contrast of temperatures is the key to the method.

Blanching performs many useful functions. For vegetables (asparagus, broccoli, green beans, spinach) it fixes and brightens the natural green colour, preserves crispness and nutrients, while slightly softening them — ideal for salads or as preparation for freezing. It helps to easily remove the skin from tomatoes, peaches, or almonds. Blanching removes excess bitterness or sharpness (for example, from onion or cabbage) and partly disinfects the product. The iced “bath” at the end (this stage is called shocking) is critically important: without it the product would continue cooking from residual heat and become soft and dull. Blanching is a basic but exceptionally useful skill that allows precise control of the texture, colour, and flavour of products in the professional and home kitchen.