Macky, your technique is quite similar to mine. I have two matching stainless steel kettles with large strainer basket inserts... this works well for large-scale freezing, since one basket can be cooling while the other is blanching. But rather than fill a sink with cold water, I place a kettle in the sink large enough to immerse the basket, and keep the tap running slowly into it. My well water is cold enough to make your teeth hurt! The cold water sinks to the bottom, and the warmer water is constantly flowing over the top. I stir constantly when the basket is first immersed, for about a minute, then let the veggies sit under the running water. Meanwhile, I strain out any fragments that might remain in the blanching kettle (the wide hand strainers sold in Asian stores work great for this), place the second basket in, and once the water resumes boiling, put in another batch to blanch. I remove & drain the batch that is cooling about a minute before the blanching is complete; by that time the water in the cooling kettle is cold. The other sink holds a colander for draining; but it's not that important to get the veggies completely dry. I initially freeze veggies in square plastic freezer boxes, then vacuum seal the frozen "blocks" into bags (this lessens the chance of debris interfering with the seal). A little water helps the veggies hold together during the transfer. I freeze greens (such as chard) covered in water; this reduces freezer burn. If you don't use a vacuum sealer, covering with water is a good alternative for extended storage. Place the veggies in a ziplock freezer bag, cover with water, squeeze out air bubbles, and seal. Be sure to leave enough room for the bag to expand as it freezes. In my experience, you don't want to use a cheap freezer bag for this, the seam might pop open or leak as it freezes. For me, vacuum-sealed green beans will last for over a year with good quality, if kept at 0 degrees F. A refrigerator ice box generally doesn't get that cold, so storage life would be reduced in the warmer conditions. A small chest freezer is a worthwhile investment if you want to freeze enough veggies for the year. Oh, one last note about blanching. For the best quality, it is best to work small batches. For me, one pound seems to be the magic number... the blanching times tend to match those listed in the Ball Blue Book, which is my reference of choice for canning & freezing. When freezing a new variety for the first time, it's a good idea to do a test batch & check for proper blanching, before freezing large quantities. One tip I've noticed is that when properly blanched, the beans (and most other cut veggies) will sink as they cool.

Hi. This is nothing to be worried about. When the candle burns the wax is kept at sustained heat longer than it was when it was poured. This makes the wax "chalky" when it cools. The color can change depending on the dye and or fragrance added to the candle, sometimes making a distinct layer, sometimes making only a subtle line where the liquid layer ended. In one respect, the ring can be helpful-- if you pour your own candles & the ring is more than 1/4" from the top of the wax, your wick is too big and you are burning your candle faster than you need to. Or, if the chalky part is bubbly, you might have too much fragrance oil in the candle-- not really a problem, either unless you're drowning your wick. BTW leaving a soy candle in a hot place (like the car) can also eventually turn the exposed parts of the candle chalky-- on the sides, it looks like solarization (& sort of is), but on the top, the candle looks "old". Unless it IS old, the way it looks should have no affect on the way it smells when it burns. Hope this helps.

I have done that before too and didn't have a problem with it. As long as the wax temp isn't going above the maximum melting temp (like around 185) it should be fine. As far as the candle frost goes, you may want to take into consideration the room temperature. I have found that during the summer when my home is nice and warm (over 70 degrees) my soy candles cool with pretty much no frosting, but during the winter, I have a much harder time if I don't keep the room warm. Also, you might try letting the wax cool to very slushy and then heat it back up again to 150 and then let it cool again to 100 degrees and then pour. I've experimented with this and it has given me beautiful tops! Here is a link that might be useful: Soy Candle Making Tips and Tricks

As far as I know of, this is something that is common to soy wax. Blends of soy wax do not do it, to my understanding, but the frosting of the soy wax (at least the last time I used soy wax, which has been quite a while) does. It was a common complaint of the soy wax users, and therefore a lot of the newer soy wax blends were developed, I think. Again, it has been a long time since I used soy wax, I only tried it a few times and didn't care for it, but I do like the blends. Susan