I froze some purple hull peas bought at the farmer's maket in bags, can I still blanch them?

Question

IS BLANCHING REALLY NECESSARY? I ALREADY FROZE MY PEAS PURCHASED IN BAGS AT A FARMER'S MARKET, IS IT TOO LATE TO BLANCH THEM NOW?

Answer 1

Actually blanching is necessary for the vegetables to retain all of thier vitamins..Blanching stops a natural enzyme in veggies that  shouldn't be alowed to keep manifesting..Once you have frozen them..I would not blanch them..but next time do so..Here is a paragraph...then the link concerning this..

What is blanching and why is it a must?

Blanching is the scalding of vegetables in boiling water or steam. Blanching slows or stops the action of enzymes. Up until harvest time, enzymes cause vegetables to grow and mature. If vegetables are not blanched, or blanching is not long enough, the enzymes continue to be active during frozen storage causing off-colors, off-flavors and toughening.

If you spend the time growing the vegetables, pulling weeds, picking and preparing for the freezer, the blanching time may be regarded as a pain-but it’s necessary if you want fresh garden flavor later.

Blanching time is crucial and varies with the vegetable and size of the pieces to be frozen. Under blanching speeds up the activity of enzymes and is worse than no blanching. Over blanching causes loss of flavor, color, vitamins and minerals.

The most convenient way to blanch vegetables is in a large kettle of boiling water. Allow one gallon of water per pound of vegetables. Bring the water to boil and lower vegetables into the water, allowing the water to continue boiling. Cover and start counting the blanching time. I like to use the side burner on my outdoor gas grill for this task. It keeps the heat and steam outside and my kitchen cool.

As soon as blanching is complete, cool the vegetables quickly and thoroughly to stop the cooking process. To cool, drain the vegetables in a strainer, then plunge the vegetables into a container of ice water. Cool vegetables for the same amount of time as they are blanched.

Drain thoroughly and freeze.

Answer 2

I think blanching helps the peas keep their texture and colour better while they are frozen.  It's definitely not essential.  And yes, it is too late to blanch them now - you should never re-freeze defrosted food, so you shouldn't take them out of the freezer now until you are ready to use them.

Answer 3

Yes, it's too late. Blanching is done BEFORE you freeze your veggies. The boiling water kills bacteria and remove soil found on the produce, and inactivates the enzymes that break down the food while in cold storage (resulting in a change in texture and color).

I'm afraid that if you thaw the peas now and try to blanch them, they will turn into mush.

I made this same mistake years ago... What I discovered was that the produce didn't last very long in the freezer (less than 8 weeks) and when I did thaw them to use, the color was a little strange and the texture was rather mushy. This is the reason why you blanch in the first place :).

Here's a great link from the Colorado Extension office with more info about blanching.