Cooking glossary

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Blanch

To immerse a food (usually raw fruit or vegetables) briefly in boiling water and immediately plunging it into cold water until cold. Blanching has two main functions, it prevents enzyme action that occurs during freezing - raw fruit and vegetables to be frozen are often blanched to preserve their colour, flavour and texture.

Fruit or vegetables to be skinned eg tomatoes or peaches, can be blanched first to make this process easier.

Blanched

A food (usually raw fruit or vegetables) that has been immersed briefly in boiling water and then plunged into cold water until cold, eg stir-fry the blanched broccoli.