How to Prepare String Beans & Butter Beans for Freezing

Nothing is better than fresh vegetables, especially old favorites like string beans and butter beans. Whether they're from your own garden, a farmer's market or from a local grocery that just got in a bumper crop of in-season produce. It's hard to resist buying up pounds more than your or your family could eat before it begins to spoil. But freezing these extras is a great way to preserve fresh string beans and butter beans, so you can enjoy them all year-round. It's also very easy to do.

Things You'll Need

• String beans
• Butter beans
• Stove
• Water
• 4-quart pot (or larger)
• Spider or slotted spoon
• Large bowl, 2 quarts or larger
• Ice
• Paper towels (or clean dish towel)
• Sheet pan
• Freezer
• Ziplock bags

Instructions

1. Place your pot on the stove and fill with 2 quarts of water. Set the heat on high and cover. Wash your string beans in cold water. Inspect your beans to remove any dirt or detritus. Snap off the ends of each bean and discard the ends.

2. When your water begins to boil, remove the lid and turn the heat down to medium to maintain the boil. Finish snapping your beans if you aren't done yet. Place about 15 cubes of ice in your bowl and fill with about 1 quart of water. Place the bowl near your pot of boiling water.

3. Drop your beans into the water and allow them to simmer for three minutes. Then fish them out with your spider or slotted spoon and drop them into the bowl filled with ice water. This will halt the cooking process, keeping the beans crisp and bright green.

4. Wait until your green beans are cool. Blot them dry with paper towels or a clean dish towel and spread out in a sheet pan. Place the sheet pan in the freezer until they are completely frozen. Put the frozen beans into ziplock bags and label with the name of the beans and the date.

5. Shell your butter beans. Set a pot of water on to boil as you did for the green beans in Step 1. Prepare a bowl of ice water as you did in Step 2. Wash your shelled butter beans gently in cold water. When the water comes to a boil, turn the heat to medium and put the butter beans in the water. Boil the beans for three minutes. Fish them out with a spider or slotted spoon and place in your bowl of ice water.

6. Wait until your butter beans are cool. Blot them dry with paper towels or a clean dish towel and spread out in a sheet pan. Place the sheet pan in the freezer until they are completely frozen. Put the frozen beans into ziplock bags and label with the name of the beans and the date.

Resources

• A Good Go-to Reference for Every Kind of Home Food Preservation.