What does blanch mean?
"Blanch" is an English verb with two well-established senses: one belongs to the kitchen and the other to human emotion. In cooking, to blanch a vegetable, fruit, or nut is to immerse it briefly in boiling water and then chill it quickly in iced water — a technique that sets colour, softens skins for peeling, and prepares produce for freezing. Figuratively and physically, to blanch is to turn pale or white, typically as a reaction to shock, fear, or cold; writers frequently describe characters whose faces blanch at unwelcome news. The two senses share a single origin: the word descends from the Old French "blanc," meaning white. Both uses are standard in British and American English and appear across registers, from recipe instructions to literary prose. A related verb, "blench," meaning to flinch, is often confused with it but has a distinct sense.
verbTo scald food, especially vegetables or fruit, briefly in boiling water and then plunge it into cold water; more broadly, to turn white or pale from shock, fear, or cold.
- (of a person's face) become pale from shock, fear, or cold
- (in cooking) scald briefly in boiling water then cool rapidly
- to make white by removing the colour from something
"She blanched the green beans for two minutes before freezing them."
"He blanched when he saw the hospital bill."
"Blanch the tomatoes for thirty seconds so the skins peel off easily."
The same word that turns your broccoli bright green also describes the color draining from someone's face — because 'blanch' literally comes from the Old French word for white.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of blanch
Blanch derives from the Old French "blanc" ("white"), which in turn traces back to a Germanic root related to "blank" and "white." It entered English in the late Middle English period with both its literal whitening sense and its cooking sense. The verb "blench" arose separately from Old English roots meaning to deceive or give way, which explains why the two similar-looking words differ in meaning today.
Related word forms
How blanch is actually used
Both the culinary and the emotional sense are standard in British and American English. The reflexive use ('she blanched') is common in narrative writing to convey sudden shock. In cookery, blanching is distinguished from parboiling by its brevity and by the immediate cooling step.
Easily confused with blanch
Blench means to flinch or draw back in fear, while blanch primarily means to whiten by scalding or to grow pale.