Blanching (cooking)

( " Make do " by French blanchir, ) blanching, even scalding, scalding, Abwällen, is the name for a short thermal treatment of food in boiling water or hot steam. Blanching is a member of the cooking process.

The surface of meat takes blanching of a whitish color, hence the name. Blanching of meat is also called Stiff Make as skin surface and are fixed. Other preparations such as spiking fall thereby easier.

This now applied mainly in vegetables and mushrooms cooking technique is primarily used to deactivate enzymes and thereby prevent unwanted product changes ( further ripening, enzymatic browning, loss of valuable ingredients, development of off-flavors ). In addition, the cell structure by reducing the middle lamella (solution respectively degradation of pectic substances ) is expelled through the blanching oxygen from the tissue of vegetables, relaxed, reducing the bacterial load, as well as undesirable flavors (coal -like vegetables) and toxins ( fungi) removed. Delicate leafy vegetables such as spinach are after blanching already cooked and just need to be seasoned. Some vegetables such as tomatoes can be skinned easily after blanching.

Analyzes in spinach and broccoli have shown that peroxidases are enzymes present already after 1 min inactivated blanching time to more than 90% as typical in vegetables. Blanching in hot steam gets the water-soluble ingredients such as vitamin C and minerals largely in vegetables, in contrast to blanching in boiling water. Fat-soluble vitamins such as Provitamin A ( beta- carotene) or vitamin E are released quantitatively by the short thermal treatment of the plant cells, and only then are available for human nutrition.

Subsequently, it is recommended that the food - especially vegetables - discourage in ice water. Thus, it retains the color, flavor and texture.

Most vegetables are blanched before freezing. In addition to the advantages already mentioned above, this leaves taste, vitamin content and the natural color (especially green) get better.