I start the timer at 6 minutes when I put the beans in the water. By the time the water starts to boil again the timer is usually around 3 minutes remaining.

Thanks Annie! I've been doing it wrong all these years. I was going to say it didn't seem to hurt us.......but my body hurts all the time and my mind is failing.........so I guess we can blame it on not boiling the beans long enough! :) I will be more diligent with it now. Thanks for that info! (But I really DID like having an excuse for all our problems....) :) :)

Sorry this took so long for me to find, I'm going to blame that on the beans too, LOL.

Hey, you already did it, so any ill effects have already taken place. Who knows if they can be rectified? It might still be the beans. (grin)

Annie

Interesting. My BBB says to start the timer as soon as the veggies are added to the boiling water, and that's always what I've done. Granted, my BBB is about 17 years old - maybe they changed it in that too???

I can't imagine blanching green beans for longer, as then they would be cooked! Same with broccoli. I think I only steam them for 5 minutes or so.

for years i've been steam- blanching green beans in the microwave, in something with a good lid, like corningware. just under a pound in about 1/2" preheated water for 3, 3.5 minutes, then flip them over for another 3 minutes. cool to room temp. in ice water, drain, pat dry & let them sit on a towel to air dry. freeze in rows on a tray, then to bags. there are lots of experiments out there. check google scholar for microwave blanching. can't check how perfect this is, but the beans are at -20F for less than 10 months. i'm no food scientist, but do enzymes really work at that temp.?