Asparagus beans are, in essence, unripe green pods of regular sugar bean varieties, which are successfully used in salads, main dishes and soups.
In unripe shovels (pods) of a bean there is no parchment layer and practically no fibers that make the pods coarse and indigestible. Therefore, dishes with asparagus beans are tasty, tender and nutritious.
Useful Properties of Asparagus Bean
- Bean pods are rich in protein and fiber.
- There are important amino acids in beans: lysine, tryptophan, tyrosine, arginine, histidine, methionine.
- Glucokinin was found in the bean pods - a substance that is similar in its properties to insulin. It has a beneficial effect on the metabolism of blood sugar, so the beans (paddles) are recommended for diabetics.
- The beans contain vitamins K, C, B1, B2, PP, B6, carotene, as well as calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, iodine, phosphorus.
- Drinking beans improves the urinary system.
- Asparagus bean is a low-calorie vegetable, therefore it is recommended in dietary nutrition.
In order to have this useful and tasty vegetable on the table in winter, the asparagus beans can be frozen. After all, when frozen in beans, all the vitamins and useful trace elements are preserved.
Preparing asparagus beans for freezing
Only very young green bean pods are suitable for freezing, which are still so soft that their flaps can be cut even with a fingernail, and small grains are in the stage of milky ripeness.
- The asparagus bean pods are sorted out, removing diseased, deformed, over-ripe blades, and then washed well in cold running water.
- With clean blades on both sides, they cut off the tips with scissors (or tear them off with their hands), because even when cooked, they remain hard.
- Then the scoops are spread on a dry clean towel or cotton cloth and dried.
- Pods can be immediately cut into pieces, so that in the future they can be conveniently used in cooking.
- Prepare a container for freezing. The most convenient way to pack the asparagus beans into small plastic bags that fit as many pods as you need to make one dish. After all, any frozen products can not be re-frozen. And if you take a bag of vegetables from the freezer several times, as some housewives do, packing the beans into a large bag, and then separating part of the frozen beans for soup or stew, this will negatively affect their quality.
If the bean pods, after drying, still remain slightly wet, they are laid out in one layer on a tray or tray and put into the freezer for 2-3 hours. After all, if this is not done and put the asparagus beans in the bags immediately, then it will smartsya and turn into one continuous lump.
Then the frozen pods are packed in bags and put back in the freezer.
If the pods are well dried, you can skip the stage of primary freezing and immediately arrange them into sachets, tie them well, so that the beans do not absorb smells from other frozen foods, and put them in the freezer for storage.
How to freeze boiled asparagus beans
If the harvest of asparagus beans was removed a little later, and there is a fear that the pods will be a little harsh, then they are boiled before freezing or at least blanched in boiling water. But if you prepare over-aged beans for freezing, even cooking will not make the pods soft and tasty.
- To freeze the boiled asparagus beans, the pods are sorted and washed in cold running water.
- Then, the hard tips of the pods are cut, and the pods themselves are cut into convenient pieces. But you can leave the beans in the form of whole pods.
- Beans are dipped in small batches into boiling salted water and cooked for 5-10 minutes. If the beans are soft, then they simply blanch them by dipping them in boiling water in a colander for two minutes.
- Then, the hot beans are immediately immersed in very cold water (ice can be added for this) and cooled. The faster the beans cool down, the better the frozen product will be.
- The cooled asparagus beans are spread in a thin layer on a cloth or cotton towel and dried.
- Then the beans are laid out in small portions in sachets, tied or fastened, if possible by firing air out of the bags, and put into the freezer.
How to cook frozen asparagus beans
Asparagus beans are most often not thawed for use in food. If boiled beans are needed, then the frozen pods are put into boiling water and boiled for 5-10 minutes. But pre-boiled frozen asparagus beans enough to cook only 2-3 minutes.
If the asparagus beans still need to be defrosted before use, then it is thawed in natural conditions: in a refrigerator or at room temperature, without the help of a microwave oven or hot water.
