How to Freeze Beans - Fresh Pigeon Pea / Toor Dal and store at home | Step by Step Pictures for Freezing Seeds

During the winter season we get many seasonal vegetables, peas, fresh lentils, that we enjoy in abundance. I remember last year thinking about the loads of cauliflowers that come to the market. This year a small cauliflower weighing may be about 150 gms or so costs about 18 Rs, which is very expensive. Still that's not going to stop us from enjoying the vegetables. 

Among these the fresh lentils make a big impact. We get those fresh toor dal, Hyacinth Beans. Hyacinth Beans. / Anapakaya which we remove the outer skin and call it Pithikina pappu. We make pithikina pappu kurma with it that makes an excellent side dish for Dosas.

The term "bean" originally referred to the seed of the broad bean, but was later expanded to include members of the genus Phaseolus, such as the common bean and the runner bean, and the related genus Vigna. The term is now applied generally to many other related plants such as soybeans, peas, lentils, chickpeas (garbanzos), vetches, and lupins.- Wiki

Last year we got so much of these Hyacinth Beans, that we froze for this year. We still have a batch of it left and we also got the fresh ones to the market.

Freezing the beans makes sure you have the beans for using the non seasonal times too. It is normally done by Blanching. Blanching is cooking technique in which food is briefly immersed in boiling water or fat. Vegetables such as green beans are often blanched in order to enhance their natural green color. Blanched vegetables are typically plunged into an ice water bath afterward to halt the cooking process.

Couple of books that I read about freezing advises about this blanching method for freezing.

If you want to see how the plant and seeds looks read this post from our farms.

Fresh toor dal pods

After removing from the outer layer.

Ice water ready to be used.

Boiling water ready to be immersed.

Wash and take the beans in a muslin cloth

Tie it properly with a rope.

When the water reaches boiling point, when it starts rolling stage, immerse the pack into the hot water.

Count for 2 minutes, and remove.

Plunge it immediately into the cold water.

Remove from the cloth

Take the beans in a colander and run it through running water.

Let it stand for 10 - 15 mins.

Dry the beans in a cloth under fan. Before packing the beans, make sure the beans are dry.

Store the beans in a zip lock cover and freeze.

My method is inspired by Chitvish of Induslady, Other interesting reads on storing and freezing, Divya's post on peas. Article on blanching Vegetables with details on timing.

Today is the last day of the BM # 10 Group 1, I took up the theme on Preps and Preserves.

• How to Store Curry Leaves? | Preserve Curry Leaves
• How to make Chilli Flakes | How to roast peanuts in Microwave
• How to peel Ridge gourd | Beerakaya Thokku Pachadi
• How to Preserve Amla in Honey | Amla in honey preserve
• How to store Coconut | Ready to use Coconut Paste, Coconut gratings
• How to prep / clean Snakegourd or Pudalankai

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#10