Yucky frozen Mange Tout

Livid as I had a great crop of Mange Tout and I froze pounds and pound of them. Friend told me that they freeze well and just put them in the freezer straight after picking them without bothering to blanche them.
Well today was the 1st time we tried them...revolting. They were a greyish colour, tough and tasteless and guess what? I've got lots more of the same in the freezer. Daughter managed to eat hers but I and husband both left ours. Daughter extremely relieved when I said the rest were heading for the compost heap!
So my question is, will blanching them make all the difference or is it a myth that Mange Tout freeze well?

 

When you freeze veg, the water within its cells expands as ice, rupturing the cell walls. All of them. So that when they thaw, they quite literally have no structure and turn to mush.

Anything that is hardy produces its own natural antifreeze, and so does better in the freezer. You can do a little experiment. Try freezing something Mediterranean like a tomato or a pepper, alongside something like a cabbage or something. Thaw them out. Both will suffer, but the hardy cabbage will be a lot more appetizing than the completely liquid pepper

Mangetoute is the same. The pods are tender. They're designed to fall apart in the cold to release the much more hardy seeds (the peas within) so they can grow the following spring.

If you blanch veg first, you soften the cells so they can stretch as the ice expands, without rupturing everything.

Or in short, raw mangetout doesn't freeze well.

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Thanks @clueless. Hmm @ARMANDII what' this doing in your post??? when I am in the dreadfully unfortunate position of having loads of inedible produce...... ok yes if I'd read my post I'd have probably added a too! It's a complete bu..er as we were looking forward to a taste of summer through the winter months. So I have made a ba..s up. What neither of you have answered tho is whether blanched and then frozen Mange Tout are good to eat and is the effort worth it? Would I be better to grow just enough Mange Tout to eat fresh and Peas to freeze...post being blanched of course!

 

Yes, if you blanch them first they'll freeze. Although they'll never quite have the flavour or texture of fresh.

You could just buy some. The supermarkets seem to have their own TTH, as they seem to be able to sell everything at any time of year.

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Thanks both I think I now know all there is to about Mangy Touts (Touts pronounced as in ticket touts) so named by my little niece. Think you are right @clueless1 probably best to buy them fresh as to me part of their attraction is the crisp texture and can't see that surviving once frozen even if I blanch them 1st.What with these being a disaster and my Parsnips resembling petrified wood, I am thankful for the likes of Tescos and wondering if I should stick to shrubs, trees and herbaceous which seem to do fine for me.

 

When I used to grow loads of runner beans some years ago, we used to go down the road of slicing them and then blanching them.

They never turned to mush, but they were bloody tasteless.

Never bothered after that.

Better off buying them in the supermarket.