Amy in the Garden

I never would have thought that I’d ever quote Wayne Dyer. But one sweet summer morning in the garden made me a fan of abundance, cheer, and positive thinking. Searching the internet for an appropriate quote for this column yielded Mr. Dyer’s remark. (see “Words from Others” at the end of this post) I’m pretty sure he was talking about gardeners. We have an abundance of gifts: flowers, fruit, and cheer.

Here is what my garden yielded that morning:

Foreground: decorative gourds that volunteered from our brush pile (I did think the vines were dead!), plus cukes, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and yes, that ENTIRE basket is filled with green beans!

I gifted our two neighbors with heavy sacks of green beans, and then turned to the kitchen, to blanche and freeze the rest. I ended with 8 quart bags filled with delicious beans, and the vines are still producing heavily.

I went to the computer to get advice on how to preserve this abundance. Here is one person’s step-by-step hand-holding for how to blanche and freeze green beans. Disclaimer: I did not edit his/her copy. Part of the charm of the internet is that you hear different voices, different vocabulary, and even different inflection. Why would I edit that out?! Here you go:

Directions for Freezing green beans

Ingredients and Equipment
fresh green beans – any quantity. I figure one handful per serving.
Vacuum food sealer or “ziploc” type freezer bags (the freezer bag
version is heavier and protects better against freezer burn.
1 large pot of boiling water
2 large bowls, one filled with cold water and ice.
1 sharp knife

Instructions
Step 1 – Get yer green beans!
Start with fresh green beans – as fresh as you can get. If there is a delay between harvesting and freezing, put it in the refrigerator or put ice on it.

And don’t use beans that are (1) old, (2) overripe or (3) dried out

Step 2 – Wash the green beans!
I’m sure you can figure out how to rinse the green beans in plain cold or lukewarm water.

Step 3 – Trim the ends and cut into smaller pieces
Just take a sharp knife and cut off both ends (about 1/4 of an inch, or half the width of an average woman’s little finger). Then cut them into pieces the size you prefer, usually about 1 inch long.

Of course, if your prefer French cut green beans, you can cut the beans lengthwise instead, or you can use a “bean Frencher.” (No, that does not make the beans want to wear a beret, or “mime,; it’s just the name.) The Frencher enables you to prepare a huge quantity of beans quickly!

Step 4 – Get the pots ready
Get the pot of boiling water ready (about 2/3 filled) and a LARGE bowl with ice and cold water.

Step 5 – Blanch the green beans.
All fruits and vegetables contain enzymes and bacteria that, over time, break down the destroy nutrients and change the color, flavor, and texture of food during frozen storage. green beans requires a brief heat treatment, called blanching, in boiling water or steam, to destroy the enzymes before freezing. Blanching times for beans is 3 minutes (the duration should be just long enough to stop the action of the enzymes and kill the bacteria).

Begin counting the blanching time as soon as you place the green beans in the boiling water. Cover the kettle and boil at a high temperature for the required length of time. You may use the same blanching water several times (up to 5). Be sure to add more hot water from the tap from time to time to keep the water level at the required height.

Step 6 – Cool the green beans
Cool the green beans immediately in ice water. Drain the green beans thoroughly. (This shouldn’t take more than a minute.)

After vegetables are blanched, cool them quickly to prevent overcooking. Plunge the green beans into a large quantity of ice-cold water. (I keep adding more ice to it.) A good rule of thumb: Cool for the same amount of time as the blanch step. For instance, if you blanch sweet green beans for 7 minutes, then cool in ice water for 7 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

Step 7 – Bag the green beans
I love the FoodSavers with their vacuum sealing! I am not paid by them, but these things really work. If you don’t have one, resealable freezer bags work, too, but it is hard to get as much air out of the bags. Remove the air to prevent drying and freezer burn.

TIP: If you don’t own a vacuum food sealer to freeze foods, place food in a resealable bag (e.g., Ziploc, Glad), zip the top shut but leave enough space to insert the tip of a soda straw. When straw is in place, remove air by sucking the air out. To remove straw, press straw closed where inserted and finish pressing the bag closed as you remove straw. It works fairly well, but I’ll stick to the Foodsaver, since the bags are microwaveable and much thicker than a resealable freezer bag.

Step 8 – Done!
Pop them into the freezer, on the quick freeze shelf, if you have one!

–www.pickyourown.org

I did something a bit different when I did my own freezing: I separated the beans by size, reasoning that fat older beans would take longer to cook. And, good news (still under Mr. Dyer’s influence, I guess!): the beans that seemed too old to bother with cooked up beautifully with those few extra minutes in the pot. Nothing beats a fresh bean, even if that bean is a little too old for the sniffy snobs.

I put the older beans into the boiling pot, waited for the pot to return to the boil, and then cooked them for 6 minutes. The younger thinner beans cooked for 3 minutes only after returning to the boil.

I also found a recipe that I found intriguing because it includes mustard. Something I would never have thought to try! Try it I will, and I will report my results. I would love to invite readers to share their favorite green bean recipes, and tell me if they tried the one below, and what they thought of it. I will share their shared recipes!

Here it is:

Green Beans with Almonds and Thyme Recipe

Ingredients
• 2 lbs of (fresh or frozen) green beans, trimmed
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Method
1 Cook the green beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until just crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the beans and transfer them to a large bowl of ice water, cooling them completely. (The ice water will shock the beans into a vibrant green color.) Drain the beans well. At this point you can make the beans a day ahead and store in refrigerator.

Alternatively you can steam the beans for 5 minutes and proceed directly to the skillet.

2 Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium high heat. Whisk in half of the fresh thyme (1 Tbsp), the Dijon mustard and garlic salt into the butter. Add the beans to the skillet and toss until heated through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and the remaining 1 Tbsp of thyme.

Serves 8.

— http://www.simplyrecipes.com

And ending with what might be considered a Garden Blessing:

“You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.”

– Khalil Gibran

Amen!

WORDS FROM OTHERS

“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”

Wayne Dyer (1940- ), self-help advocate, author, and lecturer