Blanch

In the scope of this study, the culinary context, the Oxford English Dictionary defines the word (blanch, v.) as:

"Cookery. To whiten almonds, or the like, by taking off the skin; hence (as this is done by throwing them into boiling water), to scald by a short rapid boil in order to remove the skin, or for any other purpose" (Oxford English Dictionary).

The origin of the practice of blanching is hard to pinpoint. It certainly spread further in the 19th century with the advent of canning (Encyclopedia Britannica). Commonly, the practice involves rapidly boiling vegetables or fruit, quickly retrieving them from the water, and then plunging them into a cold bath. This is done to preserve their nutritional value and shelf-life, to be kept for long periods of time. In medieval times, the method applied to blanching almonds to moisten them and remove their skins so they could be made into a paste or milk (HistoryDollop).

The word comes from the French blanchir which originally meant 'to whiten,' as it relates to the French word blanc 'white'. This is because the process lightens the color of anything it touches.

In the Middle English period it was spelled in the present tense as blaunche. In one instance from the Meanings & Use section of this entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, the past tense y-blaunchyd is used (which reflects the remaining affixes of the Middle English period that were becoming less and less common). A confirmed and established form is the Middle English infinitive blanch-yn (Verbix). From the Early Modern English period through the Modern English period, the word was spelled blanch/blanched/blanching.

Thus, it follows the common pattern of trends in changes to English words over time.

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B., Sannie. "Almond Milk the Medieval Way." A Dollop of History. Retrieved October 2025, from: https://historydollop.com/2016/11/09/almond-milk-the-medieval-way/

Encyclopedia Britannica. "Canning." Encyclopedia Britannica: Food Processing. Retrieved October 2025 from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/canning-food-processing#ref135270

Oxford English Dictionary. "Blanch, v." Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition. Retrieved October 2025 from: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/blanch_v1?tab=meaning_and_use#19088873

Verbix. "Weak Verbs." Middle English. Retrieved October 2025 from: https://docs.verbix.com/Languages/MiddleEnglish

*AI image generated with Google Gemini.