Blanching Green Beans

Pick green beans. Wash then cut off both ends. Cut beans up into 1 inch pieces. Boil water in a large pot (I use my pasta pot with insert). Put beans into boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove from boiling water and place into very cold or ice water for at least 3 minutes (this stops the blanching process from continuing). I then spread the cooled beans in a thin layer on a tea towel which is spread on top of a cookie sheet. I freeze the beans this way first and then put them into a freezer Ziploc bag. This way the beans do not freeze into a clump. You can skip the first freezing phase and place the cooled beans into bags and freeze in the bags, the beans may freeze into clumps and be a little more difficult later to use in small portions.