Blanching has a wide range of applications. Most vegetables and meat raw materials with a fishy smell need to be blanched.

The functions of blanching have the following aspects: 1.

It can make the color of vegetables more vivid, the texture more crisp and tender, reduce the astringency, bitterness and spiciness, and it can also sterilize and disinfect.

For example, spinach, celery, and rapeseed become more vivid green through blanching.

Blanching bitter melon and radish can reduce the bitterness.

The hemagglutinin contained in lentils can be released by boiling it.

2.

It can remove blood stains, fishy mutton and other odors from meat raw materials. For example, blanching beef, sheep, pork and their internal organs can reduce odors.

3.

The ripening time of several different ingredients can be adjusted to shorten the actual cooking time.

Due to the different properties of the raw materials, the heating and maturation times are also different. Several different raw materials can be matured uniformly by blanching.

For example, if meat slices and vegetables are stir-fried at the same time, and the vegetables are half-cooked after being blanched, then after the meat slices are stir-fried, add the blanched vegetables and it will be ready soon.

If they are cooked together without blanching, the raw materials will be different in rawness, cookedness, softness and hardness.

4.

It is convenient for further processing of raw materials. Some raw materials are easy to peel after blanching, and some raw materials are easy to further process and cut after blanching.

Extended information: Methods for blanching meat and fish 1.

Blanch the cut meat (ribs, large pieces of meat, chicken, etc.) in boiling water to remove the blood foam in the meat raw materials.

2.

The meat raw materials can change color after being blanched in boiling water. Take them out and drain them before proceeding to the next step of cooking.

Note: In order to maintain the color of vegetables, or to remove odor, astringency and oxalic acid, some vegetables must be blanched before cooking.

However, from a nutritional perspective, blanching can increase the loss of water-soluble nutrients. When pak choi is blanched in 100°C water for two minutes, the vitamin C loss rate is as high as 65%; when blanched for more than 10 minutes, vitamin C is almost completely lost.

Therefore, appropriate methods should be used for blanching to minimize the loss of nutrients.

Using more boiling water and blanching for a short time can reduce the heat loss of nutrients.

Because there are oxidases in vegetable cell tissues, it can accelerate the oxidation of vitamin C, especially in water temperatures of 60°C to 80°C, where the activity is highest.

In boiling water, oxidase is unstable to heat and loses activity quickly. At the same time, boiling water contains almost no oxygen, thus reducing the loss of vitamin C due to thermal oxidation.

Add 1% salt to the blanching water to keep the vegetables in a physiological saline solution, which can slow down the diffusion of soluble nutrients in the vegetables into the water.

Before blanching, keep the vegetables as intact as possible to reduce the area exposed to heat and water.

When there are a lot of raw materials, the materials should be fed in batches to ensure that the raw materials are at a higher water temperature.

The temperature of vegetables after blanching is relatively high. After leaving the water, it comes into contact with oxygen in the air and produces thermal oxygenation. This is a continuation of the loss of nutrients.

Therefore, vegetables after blanching should be cooled down in time.

A common method is to use a large amount of cold water or cold air to cool down and dissipate heat.

The former is because vegetables are placed in water, and soluble nutrients are lost due to the action of water; the latter is more effective because there is no such factor.

According to analysis, after vegetables are blanched, the average preservation rate of vitamin C is 84.7%.