Blanching is a technique used to:
- Prepare vegetables for freezing.
- Prepare an ingredient for a recipe but then stop the cooking process to put it aside for later.
- Lessen the bitterness of vegetables before using them in a recipe (e.g. leafy cooking greens).
Blanching involves quickly boiling or steaming vegetables until they are lightly cooked and then immediately submerging them in a bowl of cold water and ice cubes to stop the cooking process.