If you find that your blanched vegetables are bland, limp and completely void of any vibrant green colour, follow these easy tips for a picture perfect end product. 1) Cut everything the same size. This ensures that everything is cooked at the same rate. 2) Cook your vegetables in plenty of boiling salted or lightly salted water, but wait until your water has boiled before adding your vegetables. As a rule of thumb, make sure that you use just as much water when blanching green vegetables as you would when cooking pasta. Acid contained in the vegetables comes out into the water as it cooks and the more water there is, the more the acid is diluted. 3) Don't overcook your vegetables. This rule seems pretty obvious, but there is a fine line between perfectly cooked and overdone. The longer your vegetables cook, the more dull they'll get. Extra tip: If you're preparing vegetables for a salad or a cold platter, like our Team Canada Vegetable & Cheese Platter, have a bowl of ice cold water ready once your vegetables have been blanched so you can plunge everything into it to quickly stop the cooking process.