Blanching (cooking)

Blanching (cooking)

Blanching is a cooking process wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process.

The meaning of blanching is "to whiten", but this is not always the purpose of blanching in cooking. Food is blanched to soften it, or to partly or fully cook it, or to remove a strong taste (for example of bacon, cabbage, or onions).

When almonds or pistachios are blanched, the skin of the nut (botanically the seed coat surrounding the embryo) softens and can be easily removed later.

The technique of blanching vegetables is best illustrated by the requirement to stop cook asparagus, otherwise it would become soggy due to the asparagus continuing to cook after it is removed from the boiling water. To cook asparagus using the blanching method, the shoots are boiled for 30 seconds, and then to stop further cooking they are dipped into cold or ice water. Note: the term "blanched asparagus" is also used to refer to white asparagus, which is produced by a special gardening technique.