Strawberry season is a fast one. It could most likely be as momentary as just some weeks if it was a chilly spring. That’s why as shortly as these berries are prepared, you’ve bought to be prepared too. Due to in case you need to benefit from selfmade strawberry jam and utterly totally different tasty treats, you’ve started working quick each time you choose strawberries.
They spoil shortly.
However freezing them, ah, now that offers you a little bit of bit respiration room in the course of your busy summer season season. Freezing strawberries is fast to do and doesn’t warmth up the kitchen.
However freezing berries has its personal challenges.
What number of occasions have you ever ever ever tried to freeze strawberries, solely to finish up with an icy, pink block that’s inconceivable to work with?
Accurately, not this 12 months. I’m going to present you easy methods to flash freeze your berries so it is potential you may attain into your freezer and seize a complete bag of frozen strawberries or pluck out quite a few specific particular person berries at a time. No icepick vital.
The Greatest Goal to Freeze Strawberries
I don’t examine you, nonetheless my favourite challenge to make with updated strawberries is jam. You possibly can shield your grape jelly. And don’t even get me began on all of the seeds in raspberry jam. Peach jam is fairly good, nonetheless in the long run, strawberry jam continues to be my favourite.
Standing in a scorching and humid kitchen all day making and canning it, nonetheless, isn’t my favourite.
So, I freeze my berries instantly after deciding on them and save jam-making for the autumn. Jam-making is true for these cool days in October when the home is chilly, nonetheless you don’t should flip the warmth 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 tremendous intimidating, paying homage to you want some fancy cryogenic machine that shortly zaps your meals into frozen oblivion. Whereas that is susceptible to be the case contained in the meals enterprise, it is potential you may nonetheless purchase the specified consequence at residence utilizing not more than the freezer you have already got.
Flash freezing is unquestionably freezing meals before it’s packaged for storage.
By freezing meals first, you find yourself with individually frozen berries pretty than that big block of strawberry ice we talked about earlier. And the one “fancy” gear wanted is quite a few baking trays.
Let’s leap in.
Devices Wished
- Colander
- Paper towels or clear kitchen towels (ideally ones you don’t concepts getting stained)
- Paring knife
- Spoon
- Parchment paper
- Baking sheets
- Plastic zipper-top freezer baggage
- Room in your freezer – this one is kind of a biggie. You want room to rearrange your baking trays contained in the freezer whereas the berries bear their preliminary freeze.
- Non-compulsory – Vacuum sealer and baggage – that is actually not vital nonetheless is good to have. Eradicating as tons air as potential from the bag prevents freezer burn and retains the berries updated longer.
Preparing Strawberries to Freeze
It’s vital to rinse the berries accurately before you freeze them. You solely should freeze clear berries, as as shortly as they thaw, it might potential be almost inconceivable to wash them.
Depart the husks on and rinse the berries in a colander with chilly water. In case you’re freezing a complete lot of berries, work in small batches to ensure grime and particles get sprayed away. Then gently pat the moist berries dry and unfold them out on a clear kitchen towel to complete drying whilst you rinse the remainder.
As shortly as your strawberries are rinsed and dried, take away the tops.
There are quite a few gizmos accessible out there in the marketplace for eradicating strawberry husks and quite extra time-saving-hacks on the web. All of them are a bit foolish and ineffective in my data. The one challenge you may take away strawberry tops is true in your silverware drawer – a plain, earlier spoon.
Protect the strawberry and use the spoon to softly scrape/dig off the very best, beginning right the place the leaves finish. The husk comes off merely with out taking a great deal of the berry with it. Straightforward-peasy and one so much a lot much less goofy gadget taking on area in your drawers.
Complete or Sliced Berries?
It’s worthwhile to resolve whether or not or not or not it’s advisable freeze your berries full or sliced. The reality is, that’s dependent upon what you propose to do with them later. We’re enormous followers of smoothies in my residence, so most of our berries get frozen full.
In case you need having sliced strawberries as a topping for desserts, slice them first. Slicing them in halves, thirds or quarters is finest. You don’t need one factor smaller than ¼” as they’ve an inclination to get icy the longer they’re saved contained in the freezer.
I think about it is potential you may already see the place that is headed – it’s an excellent suggestion to do some berries each methods. It’s good having each full and sliced frozen berries prepared 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 motion into spherical them. Place the baking sheet in your freezer, conserving it diploma, so the berries don’t roll to not lower than one aspect. Freeze for quite a few hours till the berries are frozen regular.
For sliced strawberries, you’ll need to put down a little bit of parchment paper in your baking sheet before arranging the berries on it. Be sure that the berries aren’t touching, so that they don’t stick collectively as shortly as they’re frozen. As quickly as further, set your baking tray contained in the freezer and permit the sliced strawberries to freeze regular. Sliced berries take so much a lot much less time to freeze than full berries, sometimes solely just some hours.
Storing Your Frozen Berries
To forestall the berries from sticking collectively, it’s vital to work shortly to bundle deal them. Shield them contained in the freezer till you’re able to place them in freezer baggage.
Whereas it would take so much a lot much less time to dump them into better baggage, you’ll have better type, and the berries may very well be so much a lot much less further inclined to stay collectively inside the event you retailer them in smaller batches. Quart-sized baggage work good for strawberries, each sliced and complete.
Take into accout, everytime you are taking away the bag from the freezer to get berries out, they may begin to thaw, even when just for a couple of minutes.
In case you utilize an infinite bag, over time, this will likely more and more finish 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 almost closed, then utilizing a straw or your mouth, suck out the additional air from the bag before sealing it. Label your berries with the date and put them instantly as soon as extra contained in the freezer.
In case you’re utilizing a vacuum sealer, use the sunshine setting. This may increasingly more and more take away air and permit room so the berries aren’t crushed collectively, which might set off an infinite berry brick. As quickly as further, place the sealed bag contained in the freezer instantly.
Frozen strawberries shield for spherical eight to 12 months, nonetheless for the best type, attempt to make use of them inside six months of freezing them. As shortly as thawed, the berries have to be used inside just some days.
Why Are My Berries Mushy When They Thaw?
In case you’re new to preserving meals by freezing them, you may be stunned when that stunning frozen berry thaws correct proper right into a mushy blob. Sadly, there’s merely no getting spherical this concern.
Strawberries have an exceptionally excessive water content material materials supplies. When that water freezes, it turns into tiny crystals contained inside the berry, which pierce the cells of the berry. Whereas it’s frozen, the berry can nonetheless maintain its variety, nonetheless as shortly as thawed, the crystals thaw too. What was as shortly as a gradual berry loses its berry variety.
This actually not impacts the flavour, nonetheless inside the event you’re anticipating to have thawed strawberries on extreme of your cake that look just-picked-from-the-berry-patch-fresh, it is potential you may be disillusioned.
To make sure that you some concepts for what to do with these tasty berries, I’ve bought some good selections.
In case you’ve bought a bumper crop of berries in your arms, freezing them is a fast and simple means to make sure your harvest doesn’t go to waste. Frozen berries shield accurately and can most likely be beloved all 12 months extended.
You may additionally should ponder dehydrating just some of these ruby berries too. Though the strawberry season doesn’t final extended, there’s no set off why it is potential you may’t benefit from their candy type year-round.
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