Strawberry season is a quick one. It’d most likely be as short-term as only some weeks if it was a cold spring. That’s why as shortly as these berries are ready, you’ve purchased to be ready too. As a consequence of in case you want to profit from selfmade strawberry jam and completely utterly completely different tasty treats, you’ve began working fast every time you select strawberries.
They spoil shortly.
Nonetheless freezing them, ah, now that gives you a bit of little bit of bit respiration room within the midst of your busy summer time season season. Freezing strawberries is quick to do and doesn’t heat up the kitchen.
Nonetheless freezing berries has its personal challenges.
What variety of events have you ever ever ever ever tried to freeze strawberries, solely to complete up with an icy, pink block that’s inconceivable to work with?
Appropriately, not this 12 months. I’ll current you simple strategies to flash freeze your berries so it’s potential chances are you’ll attain into your freezer and seize an entire bag of frozen strawberries or pluck out fairly a number of specific explicit individual berries at a time. No icepick important.
The Best Purpose to Freeze Strawberries
I don’t study you, nevertheless my favorite concern to make with up to date strawberries is jam. You presumably can defend your grape jelly. And don’t even get me started on the entire seeds in raspberry jam. Peach jam is pretty good, nevertheless in the long term, strawberry jam continues to be my favorite.
Standing in a scorching and humid kitchen all day making and canning it, nonetheless, should not be my favorite.
So, I freeze my berries immediately after deciding on them and save jam-making for the autumn. Jam-making is true for these cool days in October when the house is chilly, nevertheless you don’t have to flip the heat on nonetheless. That’s the time to make jam, not when it’s 90 ranges out, and the humidity is 80%.
Why Flash Freezing Works
Flash freezing sounds large intimidating, reminiscent of you need some fancy cryogenic machine that shortly zaps your meals into frozen oblivion. Whereas that’s weak to be the case contained within the meals enterprise, it’s potential chances are you’ll nonetheless buy the desired consequence at residence using no more than the freezer you already have.
Flash freezing is definitely freezing meals earlier than it’s packaged for storage.
By freezing meals first, you end up with individually frozen berries fairly than that huge block of strawberry ice we talked about earlier. And the one “fancy” gear wished is sort of a number of baking trays.
Let’s leap in.
Gadgets Wished
- Colander
- Paper towels or clear kitchen towels (ideally ones you don’t ideas getting stained)
- Paring knife
- Spoon
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheets
- Plastic zipper-top freezer baggage
- Room in your freezer – this one is form of a biggie. You need room to rearrange your baking trays contained within the freezer whereas the berries bear their preliminary freeze.
- Non-compulsory – Vacuum sealer and baggage – that’s truly not important nevertheless is nice to have. Eradicating as tons air as potential from the bag prevents freezer burn and retains the berries up to date longer.
Getting ready Strawberries to Freeze
It’s important to rinse the berries appropriately earlier than you freeze them. You solely have to freeze clear berries, as as quickly as they thaw, it’d potential be nearly inconceivable to scrub them.
Depart the husks on and rinse the berries in a colander with chilly water. In case you’re freezing an entire lot of berries, work in small batches to make sure grime and particles get sprayed away. Then gently pat the moist berries dry and unfold them out on a transparent kitchen towel to finish drying while you rinse the remaining.
As quickly as your strawberries are rinsed and dried, take away the tops.
There are fairly a number of gizmos accessible accessible within the market for eradicating strawberry husks and barely further time-saving-hacks on the net. All of them are a bit silly and ineffective in my knowledge. The one concern chances are you’ll take away strawberry tops is true in your silverware drawer – a plain, earlier spoon.
Defend the strawberry and use the spoon to softly scrape/dig off the easiest, starting applicable the place the leaves end. The husk comes off merely with out taking a substantial amount of the berry with it. Easy-peasy and one fairly a bit so much a lot much less goofy gadget taking on home in your drawers.
Full or Sliced Berries?
It is worthwhile to resolve whether or not or not or not or not it is advisable freeze your berries full or sliced. The truth is, that is dependent upon what you intend to do with them later. We’re monumental followers of smoothies in my residence, so most of our berries get frozen full.
In case you want having sliced strawberries as a topping for desserts, slice them first. Slicing them in halves, thirds or quarters is biggest. You don’t want one issue smaller than ¼” as they’ve an inclination to get icy the longer they’re saved contained within the freezer.
I give it some thought is potential chances are you’ll already see the place that’s headed – it’s a terrific suggestion to do some berries every strategies. It’s good having every full and sliced frozen berries ready at hand.
Flash Freeze
Everytime you’ve washed and dried your berries and chosen full or sliced, it’s time to freeze them.
Place full berries on the baking sheet, guaranteeing they don’t contact and the chilly air can movement into spherical them. Place the baking sheet in your freezer, conserving it diploma, so the berries don’t roll to not decrease than one side. Freeze for fairly a number of hours until the berries are frozen common.
For sliced strawberries, you’ll want to put down a bit of little bit of parchment paper in your baking sheet earlier than arranging the berries on it. Make sure the berries aren’t touching, in order that they don’t stick collectively as quickly as they’re frozen. As rapidly as extra, set your baking tray contained within the freezer and allow the sliced strawberries to freeze common. Sliced berries take fairly a bit so much a lot much less time to freeze than full berries, often solely only some hours.
Storing Your Frozen Berries
To forestall the berries from sticking collectively, it’s important to work shortly to bundle deal them. Defend them contained within the freezer until you’re prepared to position them in freezer baggage.
Whereas it will take fairly a bit so much a lot much less time to dump them into bigger baggage, you’ll have bigger kind, and the berries might very effectively be fairly a bit so much a lot much less extra inclined to remain collectively contained in the occasion you retailer them in smaller batches. Quart-sized baggage work good for strawberries, every sliced and whole.
Take into accout, everytime you take away the bag from the freezer to get berries out, they might start to thaw, even when only for a few minutes.
In case you utilize an infinite bag, over time, this may occasionally more and more an increasing number of end in hunks of berries caught collectively as they thaw after which refreeze collectively.
Working shortly, change the frozen berries to the freezer baggage. Zip them nearly closed, then using a straw or your mouth, suck out the extra air from the bag earlier than sealing it. Label your berries with the date and put them immediately as quickly as further contained within the freezer.
In case you’re using a vacuum sealer, use the sunshine setting. This may occasionally more and more an increasing number of take away air and allow room so the berries aren’t crushed collectively, which could set off an infinite berry brick. As rapidly as extra, place the sealed bag contained within the freezer immediately.
Frozen strawberries defend for spherical eight to 12 months, nevertheless for the most effective kind, try to make use of them inside six months of freezing them. As quickly as thawed, the berries have for use inside only some days.
Why Are My Berries Mushy When They Thaw?
In case you’re new to preserving meals by freezing them, chances are you’ll be shocked when that beautiful frozen berry thaws appropriate correct proper right into a mushy blob. Sadly, there’s merely no getting spherical this concern.
Strawberries have an exceptionally extreme water content material materials supplies provides. When that water freezes, it turns into tiny crystals contained contained in the berry, which pierce the cells of the berry. Whereas it’s frozen, the berry can nonetheless protect its kind, nevertheless as quickly as thawed, the crystals thaw too. What was as quickly as a gradual berry loses its berry kind.
This truly not impacts the flavour, nevertheless contained in the occasion you’re anticipating to have thawed strawberries on excessive of your cake that look just-picked-from-the-berry-patch-fresh, it’s potential chances are you’ll be disillusioned.
To just be sure you some ideas for what to do with these tasty berries, I’ve purchased some good selections.
In case you’ve purchased a bumper crop of berries in your arms, freezing them is a quick and simple means to ensure your harvest doesn’t go to waste. Frozen berries defend appropriately and may most likely be beloved all 12 months prolonged.
You might also have to ponder dehydrating only some of those ruby berries too. Although the strawberry season doesn’t last prolonged, there’s no set off why it’s potential chances are you’ll’t profit from their sweet kind year-round.
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