With yo freeze your own green beans, you control the freshness, cleanliness, and processing.

Here’s how to freeze fresh green beans properly.

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Mareya S. Ibrahim-Jones is a chef, author of Eat Like You Give a Fork ($16), and founder of food cleaning brand Eat Cleaner.

You are in control of their freshness, cleanliness, and how theyre processed, says Ibrahim-Jones.

Additionally, you have control over exactly how theyre cut.

You may want to chop them or keep them whole.

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Heres how to freeze fresh green beans in five easy steps.

How to freeze fresh green beans

1.

The green beans should be firm to the touch and the ends should easily snap off, says Ibrahim-Jones.

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If theyre rubbery or limp, theyre probably past their prime.

If not, just pick some up at your local farmers market or grocery store.

Wash your green beans

Once youve got your beans, you should wash them thoroughly in cold water.

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Mareya S. Ibrahim-Jones is a chef, author of Eat Like You Give a Fork ($16), and founder of food cleaning brand Eat Cleaner.

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3.

The best way to do this is blanching them for three minutes.

But, if you dont have a blancher, Ibrahim-Jones says to just steam them for three minutes.

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They should turn brightgreenbut stay crisp.

Do this by placing the green beans into a strainer and plunge them into super cold water.

Keep the water running until the beans are cool, which shouldnt take much longer than steaming them did.

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Then, pat them dry.

Pack them away and freeze them

Now, the fully cooled green beans are ready to be frozen.

With dry packing, the beans might freeze to each other, creating a block of frozen green beans.

If youre freezing your green beans in meal-sized servings, dry packing is fine.

For dry packing, you better tightly pack your green beans into freezer-safe containers.

For freezer bags, fill to within three inches of the top and then seal.

Remove them and quickly put them into bags or containers.

Ibrahim-Jones says your green beans will be good frozen for up to six months.

She loves them sauteed in what she calls a flavor bomb.

Then, shes able to pull one out whenever she needs it.

She tosses a flavor bomb into a pan with shallots, cremini mushrooms, and the green beans.

I even love them chilled, just tossed with a simple vinaigrette, she says.

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