Literary notes about blanch (AI summary)
The term "blanch" displays remarkable versatility in literature, oscillating between a technical culinary instruction and a vivid metaphor for sudden paleness. In its practical sense, authors invoke blanching in cooking directions to describe processes such as scalding almonds or vegetables to remove skins or prepare them for further treatment ([1],[2],[3],[4]). At the same time, the word takes on a figurative role in narrative and poetic contexts—illustrating moments when a character’s face or features lose their color in moments of shock, fear, or intense emotion, as seen when faces blanch in terror or under the weight of profound realization ([5],[6],[7],[8]). Additionally, "Blanch" appears as a character name or symbolic device in dramatic works, thereby enriching its palette of meanings through personification and allusion ([9],[10],[11]).
- If you wish, you may first blanch your almonds by pouring boiling water over them, and then rubbing off the skins, as you all know how.
— from The Art of Home Candy Making, with Illustrations by Home Candy Makers - Cut it into pieces about four inches long, blanch and braize them in good stock, ham, salt, and pepper.
— from The Cook's Decameron A Study in Taste, Containing over Two Hundred Recipes for Italian Dishes by Waters, W. G., Mrs. - It is a good plan to blanch the almonds the day before they are to be pounded.
— from The Dinner Year-Book by Marion Harland - To blanch parsley means to throw it for a few seconds into boiling water.
— from Cassell's Vegetarian Cookery A Manual of Cheap and Wholesome Diet by A. G. (Arthur Gay) Payne - But she did see Roaring Bill stiffen and his face blanch under its tan.
— from North of Fifty-Three by Bertrand W. Sinclair - Then a whistle sounded somewhere in the building and the man’s face seemed to blanch white.
— from Mason of Bar X Ranch by Henry Holcomb Bennett - His lip might quiver, and his cheek might blanch, but no expression of fear or concern escaped the lips of that immortal man.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - And then there came galloping into her memory [Pg 198] a recollection that made Sally blanch.
— from Coquette by Frank Swinnerton - Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the BASTARD, PEMBROKE, and others KING JOHN.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - If love ambitious sought a match of birth, Whose veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch?
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Thou dost blanch mischief, Would'st make it white.
— from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
