Well … it’s a lot less scarier than it sounds! It’s mainly a vegetable thrown into water for seconds, taken out and then put into a ice bath. Yes, that simple.
First of all you need the vegetable … I used asparagus as the sample, because it’s easy to see the change of color in my photos … notice that these stems have almost a matt-olive green look to them …
Then bring a pot to a gentle or rolling boil … drop a few stems into water and when they turn Kelly green (this will happen within 10 seconds) remove them immediately from the boiling water. I usually use a pair of tongs to remove them from the water since I usually blanch a few bunches. 
When you remove the asparagus from the heat you need to toss the spears in bowl with ice water …
You have now blanched … whoa … that easy … remove from ice water and follow the rest of instructions for recipe. You can chill blanched vegetables for two nights before any event if you are planning in advance.
