Strawberry season is a quick one. It might most likely be as short-term as just a few 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 result of in case you want to take pleasure in selfmade strawberry jam and completely completely completely different tasty treats, you’ve began working fast each time you select strawberries.
They spoil shortly.
Nonetheless freezing them, ah, now that gives you somewhat little bit of bit respiration room in the middle of your busy summer season 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?
Precisely, not this 12 months. I’ll current you simple strategies to flash freeze your berries so it’s potential you’ll attain into your freezer and seize an entire bag of frozen strawberries or pluck out fairly a number of particular explicit individual berries at a time. No icepick obligatory.
The Best Purpose to Freeze Strawberries
I don’t look at you, nonetheless my favorite problem to make with up to date strawberries is jam. It’s possible you’ll defend your grape jelly. And don’t even get me started on the entire seeds in raspberry jam. Peach jam is pretty good, nonetheless 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, is simply not 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, nonetheless you don’t should 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 super intimidating, reminiscent of you need some fancy cryogenic machine that shortly zaps your meals into frozen oblivion. Whereas that’s susceptible to be the case contained within the meals enterprise, it’s potential you’ll nonetheless buy the required consequence at residence using no more than the freezer you already have.
Flash freezing is actually freezing meals previous to it’s packaged for storage.
By freezing meals first, you end up with individually frozen berries fairly than that giant block of strawberry ice we talked about earlier. And the one “fancy” gear needed 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 type 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 really not obligatory nonetheless is good to have. Eradicating as heaps air as potential from the bag prevents freezer burn and retains the berries up to date longer.
Getting ready Strawberries to Freeze
It’s essential to rinse the berries precisely previous to you freeze them. You solely should freeze clear berries, as as quickly as they thaw, it might potential be virtually 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 confirm 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 obtainable in the marketplace for eradicating strawberry husks and barely additional time-saving-hacks on the net. All of them are a bit silly and ineffective in my information. The one problem you may take away strawberry tops is true in your silverware drawer – a plain, earlier spoon.
Shield the strawberry and use the spoon to softly scrape/dig off among the finest, starting proper 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 quite a bit a lot much less goofy gadget taking up home in your drawers.
Complete 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 fact is, that is dependent upon what you intend to do with them later. We’re giant 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 best. 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 you’ll already see the place that’s headed – it’s a tremendous 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 somewhat little bit of parchment paper in your baking sheet previous to arranging the berries on it. Make sure that the berries aren’t touching, in order that they don’t stick collectively as quickly as they’re frozen. As shortly as further, set your baking tray contained within the freezer and allow the sliced strawberries to freeze common. Sliced berries take fairly a bit quite a bit a lot much less time to freeze than full berries, typically solely just a few hours.
Storing Your Frozen Berries
To forestall the berries from sticking collectively, it’s essential to work shortly to bundle deal them. Protect them contained within the freezer until you’re in a position to place them in freezer baggage.
Whereas it’d take fairly a bit quite a bit 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 quite a bit a lot much less further inclined to remain collectively contained in the occasion you retailer them in smaller batches. Quart-sized baggage work good for strawberries, every sliced and full.
Take into accout, everytime you’re taking 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 employ a vast bag, over time, this will likely sometimes increasingly 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 virtually closed, then using a straw or your mouth, suck out the extra air from the bag previous to sealing it. Label your berries with the date and put them immediately as quickly as additional contained within the freezer.
In case you’re using a vacuum sealer, use the sunshine setting. This can doubtless increasingly take away air and allow room so the berries aren’t crushed collectively, which can set off a vast berry brick. As shortly as further, place the sealed bag contained within the freezer immediately.
Frozen strawberries defend for spherical eight to 12 months, nonetheless for the one kind, try to make use of them inside six months of freezing them. As quickly as thawed, the berries have for use inside just a few days.
Why Are My Berries Mushy When They Thaw?
In case you’re new to preserving meals by freezing them, it’s possible you’ll be shocked when that beautiful frozen berry thaws right 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 selection, nonetheless as quickly as thawed, the crystals thaw too. What was as quickly as a gradual berry loses its berry selection.
This really not impacts the flavour, nonetheless 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 you’ll be disillusioned.
To just be sure you some ideas for what to do with these tasty berries, I’ve purchased some good picks.
In case you’ve purchased a bumper crop of berries in your arms, freezing them is a quick and easy means to verify your harvest doesn’t go to waste. Frozen berries defend precisely and might most likely be beloved all 12 months prolonged.
You might also should ponder dehydrating just a few of those ruby berries too. Although the strawberry season doesn’t last prolonged, there’s no set off why it’s potential you’ll’t take pleasure in their sweet kind year-round.
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