Drop cut and cleaned vegetables, such as green beans, into a large amount of rapidly boiling water. As soon as the vegetables begin to brighten in color, remove them from the boiling water with a strainer, slotted spoon or tongs. Depending on the vegetables being blanched, cooking time can take from less than a minute to up to 3 minutes.

To stop the cooking process, plunge vegetables into a large bowl of ice water until they are cooled. Blanching can be done ahead of time if you are going to use the vegetables for cooking. Or crisp blanched vegetables can be either chilled or served immediately.