Why does cold water make vegetables crunchy?

Answer 1

Look at it this way. If you took a banana and put it in the freezer and you took one and placed it in hot water. Imagine the difference between the 2. One would have all of it's existing moisture frozen while the other had it's existing moisture more free flowing. Meaning one would be harder than the other ... The cold one. Well this is what happens when vegetables or fruit are put in an ice bath or cold water. The vegetable/fruit constricts due to the coldness and everything tightens up causing it to be crunchier than it's room temperature counterpart. Hot water causes the vegetable/fruit to expand making for a far less crunchy version.