Assuming that my okra and green beans produce well this year I would like to freeze some for later use. Can I just cut these up and freeze in a bag or do they need to be treated in some way before freezing. Any advice will be appreciated.
I do just that - cut okra/snap beans and freeze.
My mom & grandmother used to go to the trouble of āblanchingā beans - dropping them into boiling water, bringing back to a boil, then dipping them out and cooling with running water or ice before bagging & freezing. This would inactivate natural enzymes that would be involved in potentially changing flavor or consistency.
I used to blanch, but found that fresh-frozen beans are just fine without itā¦ or, at least, I canāt ascertain any difference in flavor or consistencyā¦ but I like my green beans cooked ālong timeāā¦ like, theyāre better the second or third day theyāve been cooking.
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I did some this way last yearā¦ oven blanchedā¦ then frozen. It worked well.
I did mine a little different than she doesā¦
She takes hers out of the ovenā¦ then i assume she lets it cool some then she scoops it into plastic freezer bags for storing in the freezer.
I took mine out of the ovenā¦ and then just slid the parchment sheet with blanched okra on it over to (an extra identical baking sheet) i haveā¦ that was room temp (not 300 degrees). Making that transfer was easy and then i just put that baking sheet full of okra in the freezer for flash freezing.
After 1 hour it was frozen nicely and i stored mine in pint mason jarsā¦ vacuum sealed.
Blanching itā¦ they say benefits you with a better tasting frozen produce. It evidently stops the enzymes from causing your fruit to loose quality.
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Blanching stops enzyme actions which otherwise cause loss of flavor, color and texture . In addition, blanching removes some surface dirt and microorganisms, brightens color and helps slow vitamin losses.
Per Goog
Psā¦ i have done the hot water /cold water blanching that Lucky mentioned. To me it is much more of a hassle than the oven blanching.
With a good sized baking sheet you can do a quart of okra or a little more in one session.
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Very few green beans are good frozen. Sicitalian Black Swamp bean, available from Sandhill Preservation, is a pole bean that is good as a fresh snap and superb as frozen snaps.
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I prefer green beans pressure cannedā¦ some varieties are better than others pressure cannedā¦ some hold up better to that level of processing and come out very good.
Once pressure cannedā¦ just heatā¦ season and eat.
@Fusion_power may know which varieties work best for pressure canning.
I have done a half runner variety named Mountaineer and a bush bean and they both tasted great looked great.
I may do some green beans again this year.
I need flat itallian typesā¦ pod heavyā¦ less or later developing beans. Beans are high carbā¦ the pods are notā¦
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Mountaineer half-runner is a good bean. If you are up to pole beans, give this one a try.
Trivia time. White Half-Runner beans have been pretty much ruined in the last 70 years by breeders trying to incorporate disease resistance and other traits. But my question is Why are they called āWhiteā half-runners. Most people think it is because the bean seed are white. Nope! The original white half-runner beans have a whitish cast on the bean pods. I only know of one variety remaining that still has the āwhiteā eponymous for White Half-Runners.
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My preference is to cut up okra and then blanch in boiling water for 3 or 4 minutes. Dip out okra with slotted spoon. Cool in ice water. Drain okra with strainer thoroughly. Then spread-out okra on a cookie sheet. Place in deep freezer. After an hour or so take okra out of freezer and bag in quart freezer bag. Place back in freezer with a date on bag. Donāt forget to eat okra inside about a yearsā time. 
Donāt grow green beans but should.
Edit: Actually, I use my vacuum sealer instead of quart freezer bags. However, they do end up being about a quart in size. I suppose it would be less work just to use regular freezer bags but Iām always making stuff more complicated than it has to be. 
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Iāve got 2 pressure cookersā¦ but my wife long ago informed me that she absolutely will NOT be canning anythingā¦ and Iām disinclined to go to that much trouble myselfā¦ at least, at the present time.
Are frozen green beans as good as canned? Perhaps noā¦ but since Iām gonna be cooking them for a day and a half or more with bacon grease and plenty of ham bullion flavoring before Iām gonna eat 'em, Iām not sure it makes much difference.
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Really for a day and a half? I canāt imagine why. Must be some extra tough green beans or your extremely fearful of contamination. Maybe crock pot cooking on low? I dunnoā¦
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Nah, we just like them ācooked to within an inch of their lifeā. Not many things will elicit more complaints from my wife than going to a catered luncheon where thereās a big pan of Blue Lake beans just dumped out of the can and heated up - often with a stick of margarine (blasphemy!, I tell you) dumped in.
I grew 4 or 5 varieties of green beans last year - including the Sicitalian Black Swamp that Darrel mentioned - but they mostly just get mixed in together when Iām picking, so I canāt say that I have one variety that I like best.
July to Octoberā¦ my fav way to have okraā¦
Pick it.
Fry it. And we do that about every other day.
Yum !!!
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Iāve grown about 50 varieties of okra over the years. Most are not worth remembering. A few are superb.
Clemson Spineless is arguably the best known okra in the south. It has several flaws such as getting tough if not picked near daily. Perkins was a well known okra 50 years ago. It is the parent of Clemson Spineless. Cowhorn is notable for staying tender up to 6 inches long. The only thing I donāt like about Cowhorn is how tall the plants get. Iāve had them 15 feet tall, very productive, just difficult to harvest. Heavy Hitter IMO is more productive than Clemson Spineless. It is decent okra. Iāve grown and enjoyed Jing Orange. If I had to recommend a red/orange okra, Jing would get top honors. My current favorite is Granny Franklin which is a family heirloom passed down in the Franklin family for about 60 years, maybe more. It looks like a selection from Perkins. It is superb fried, frozen, pickled, boiled, or dried. I donāt know of any other okra that is as versatile in the kitchen. Iām growing Gold Coast this year for Sandhill Preservation. I read about it 30 or more years ago as a variety that almost disappeared. I will also grow some plants of a hybrid Iām attempting to combine the traits of Lee (short highly productive) with Cowhorn (tender and productive). If successful, Iād love to grow a Cowhorn like okra that stays under 8 feet tall and still produces 200 to 300 pods per plant.
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This year Iām growing three varieties of okra. Clemson Spineless, Go Big, and Heavy Hitter. The only one of these three that Iāve grown before is Clemson Spineless. Heavy Hitter will make up about Ā¾ of the plants. If the Heavy Hitter does well I will save some seeds for next year. I only plan to plant one variety of green bean, Blue Lake pole heirloom. If we like it I will save seed from it. One issue Iām having is deciding on how many of each to plant.
I have had Blue Lake as you describe and I just left them on the plate. If you know how to prepare Blue lake they can be pretty good.
You make fried okra look delicious.
I have grown Cowhorn before. I donāt want to use a ladder to harvest.
Thanks
Is it Black seeded Blue Lake? If so, hedge your bets. I had poor results from black seeded Blue Lake each time Iāve grown them.
Here is my grandmaās recipe for good beans. First, grow your own and can them. Kentucky Wonder was one of her favorites. Open a quart of beans and pour them into a saucepan. Cook on simmer until the water is almost gone (usually takes about an hour, maybe a tad more). The beans will shrivel and shrink. Turn up the heat enough to evaporate the rest of the water. Listen for the sizzling sound the beans make as they caramelize and stir them 3 or 4 times a minute. It takes about 5 minutes to caramelize all of the beans. Serve hot. Iām partial to ham in my beans so I usually put some in after about 30 minutes of cooking. It helps if you add a bit of bacon grease with the ham. I usually put about 3/4 of a cup of chipped ham in a quart of beans.
P.S. I just opened a quart of beans. Ham is in the freezer. 
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