View Single Post
  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
robert
 
Posts: n/a
Default My green bean are too tough (horrors!)


"Amelia" > wrote in message
om...
> Why are my fresh green beans tough when I follow the directions that
> include boiling them for 5 minutes at a full boil followed with a ice
> water bath. Is it simply a function of cooking time, or is there
> more?
> Thanks for the help.


Kinda depends on how you want to serve them. Essentially what you did was
blanch the beans. You can cook fresh beans 7-8 minutes w/o making them
mushy. Dropping them in an ice water bath simply stops the cooking process.
Keep in mind that some green beans are going to be tough despite how long
you can reasonably cook them. You want to look for bright green beans, w/o
brown spots, that 'withered look' or a fading of color. Generally, the
older the green bean the tougher it is.
If you live in the northeast, green bean season is long over, so the beans
you purchased may well have been sitting in a warehouse for quite a while.