Now the beans are coming out mushy and skins peeling off, though still cold. Same blanching/freezing process, and I can't believe there's a difference between the bush and pole beans of the Blue Lake. So the only thing I can think of is that I was processing larger batches, and packing full quart bags instead of 12oz by weight? So when we nuke for 3 minutes some of the beans are still cold, we have to squish the bag around and add 30secs at a time until they're warm (but even at 5 minutes they're not hot). Is this causing the peeling? Was 3 min blanch (counting from when water started to boil again) too much for larger batches, b/c of the time it took to get back to boil? Other possible causes - b/c of the increased volume, not cooled as quickly, or not dried as thoroughly (I put on paper towels and blot before spreading on a cookie sheet to freeze, maybe the larger batches were still a little wet?)?

We're eating from the top of the freezer (so later, bigger batches) - I did do smaller bags earlier in the season so will have to see how those are. But I'm disappointed b/c I wanted to use a full quart bag for Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, and now I don't know how to reheat them so they're as good as last year's.

But working with small batches at a time when blanching and cooling always works better for most any food. And with green beans I find that steam blanching is preferred.

Dave

Yeah, a quart at a time may have been pushing it for blanching even in 6qt Dutch oven? I don't recall the beans being old (on the vine), they aren't big and lumpy (those got pickled). But they could have been in the fridge a few days - would that make them do this?

I'll have to dig the smaller packages out of the bottom of the freezer and just cook 2 for Thanksgiving, and I'll take more care picking and processing the beans next year. September was so dry they didn't produce much, and then they started up again when it started raining (every weekend) in Oct, these are from that 2nd flush.