Kitchen Terms:Blanch

Blanching is typically done to vegetables, fruits or nuts in preparation for cooking, freezing or serving.

To blanch you drop the ingredient into boiling water or steam for a brief amount of time to intensify the flavor or color as well as setting the color with out cooking the item through. As soon as you remove the items from the boiling water or steam you drop them into cold water to stop the cooking process.

Blanching can also be used to loosen the skins from peaches, tomatoes and nuts.