Blanching as a way of life...

Gary's Aunt Rouene sent us an article from her local paper - The Grand Junction Sentinel. It was about Nathan Myhrvold's 6-volume cookbook "Modernist Cuisine." The article mentioned a test Myhrvold had conducted for his book to confirm whether or not blanching extended the shelf life of blueberries or of lettuce. The test results indicated that, yes, the shelf lives were extended! It said that apparently immersing the lettuce into boiling water killed the organisms that would have caused the lettuce to have a shorter shelf life.

I received the Myhrvold article after I had begun blanching food; and it did open my mind to more possibilities. I have heard that toaster ovens are a healthier option than microwave ovens, because some foods have their nutrients depleted by microwaves, and the waves in and around the microwave ovens are not good (I am only repeating what I heard). Even though I have not yet read this in a respected science journal, I am seriously considering insinuating a toaster oven into my life.

But, back to the subject, I decided that instead of loosening the outer skin of a butternut squash by nuking it for 6 minutes, I would blanch it for 8 minutes. I dipped the whole squash into the boiling water; then removed it and immersed it in ice water. Like always, after it cooled, I peeled the squash and cut it into chunks; then boiled it in a little bit of water, watchful it did not boil dry. I mashed the cooked squash in its cooking pan, incorporating the nutritious cooking liquid into the squash. I added small amounts of sugar and butter plus a little salt. A savory way to ingest some vitamin A and other good stuff found in yellow vegetables.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that I blanched some beet greens! They had to have been the most pampered (yeah, after you get boiled, you get pampered) beet greens ever as I carefully removed each leaf from the collander and gently placed it on the towel to soak up the excess liquid. I chopped the greens and sort of pushed them around in the heated skillet with butter and olive oil. What began as a respectable-sized bowlful of crispy greens ended up as two scant 1/4-cup servings. Beet greens are off the blanching list. Kale is next. Happy Day!