5 ways to freeze strawberries for the winter

Compared with other berries, freezing strawberries for the winter in the freezer is the most difficult. It quickly loses shape, starts up juice and, when defrosted, turns into an unpleasant-looking gruel. Having made unsuccessful attempts to procure a healthy treat, many are disappointed. Only a few seek secrets that will help keep the berry whole and fragrant. We will be happy to talk about the intricacies of strawberry freezing!

5 essential rules

For successful freezing, you need to choose the right berries. Also important is the preparatory phase - washing and cleaning.

5 rules that will help strawberries to maintain a presentable appearance when frozen:

1. Selection of berries. A whole berry will freeze well only if it is resilient and tiny. Therefore, you must either initially choose such a variety, or carefully sort out the crop and leave only medium-sized specimens.
2. Tail Removal. If you need to freeze whole strawberries, the ponytails should never be removed. Sepals help keep fit. Without them, the berry flows very quickly.
3. The washing up. Strawberries do not need to be washed before freezing. But this rule works if the crop is harvested in your garden and the berries do not creep on the ground. In other cases, the strawberries are washed very carefully and quickly so that it does not have time to absorb moisture and become watery.
4. Drying. Before placing in the freezer, the berries are dried without fail. It is better to sprinkle them in a single layer on a paper towel. After 1 hour, you can begin to freeze.
5. Defrosting. To prevent the whole strawberry from floating when thawing, the temperature should be raised gradually. Put the berries to thaw in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. At the bottom of the plate lay a paper towel folded several times.

By the way, beaten, juicy and large berries can also be frozen. To do this, they are ground in mashed potatoes or intentionally allowed to let the juice in sugar. Strawberry frozen in such ways is ideal for making sauces, yogurt desserts, impregnation for cakes, smoothies and other delicious dishes.

For freezing, wild strawberries are ideal. It is small in size and practically does not differ in taste from strawberries.

Freeze whole berries

Choosing the right strawberries for freezing, you can easily carry out your plan. Procedure:

1. Freeze strawberries as soon as you get home. Do not stew the berries in the refrigerator: in a day they will be let into juice, and then you will have to resort to other options for freezing.
2. Rinse the crop, collecting small handfuls and substituting under the gentle pressure of water. You can use a silicone colander, but not iron (it provokes oxidation processes, which makes the berries turn dark).
3. Spread a paper towel on the table and lay on it in 1 layer the most elastic and ripe small berries. Do not clean sepals!
4. After 1 hour, place the strawberries in a flat tray for freezing. Or use a cutting board, tray or baking sheet covered with cling film. Place the berries at a short distance from each other.
5. After 3-4 hours, pour the frozen strawberries into a bag or food tray.

Strawberries cannot tolerate re-freezing. Therefore, it is always divided into portions and packaged in packages of 100 to 300 grams.

Frozen grated strawberries

If the goal is not to preserve the shape of the berries, then it is better to immediately freeze them in grated form. This greatly facilitates the procurement process.The main thing - grated frozen strawberries fully retains its taste and aroma. It is delicious to eat simply false (reminds fruit ice) and is very convenient to add to dishes.

Course of action:

1. Rinse the berries under running water.
2. Remove the ponytails.
3. Allow moisture to drain (15–20 minutes).
4. Grind the berries through a sieve. You can use a blender (1-2 minutes) or a meat grinder.
5. Pour mashed potatoes into small containers, such as plastic cups or food trays.
6. Place in the freezer to freeze.

Grated strawberries can be frozen separately, or with other fruits and berries. For example, it goes well with a banana. Two types of mashed potatoes are mixed or layered. Such a dessert is enjoyed by children even without sugar.

Frozen Strawberry Recipes with Sugar

Many people love exclusively sweetened strawberries. After defrosting, it has a pronounced strawberry flavor and is immediately ready to eat.

Here are 3 recipes for frozen strawberries with sugar:

• In powder. Whole berries after defrosting will please you with taste if sprinkled with sugar or powdered sugar. Strawberries need to be washed, peeled, dried and frozen on a baking sheet. Only after that it is mixed with sugar, powdered. Proportions - 200 g of sugar per 1 kg of strawberries.
• In syrup. If you already covered strawberries with sugar, you can freeze it in this form. If not, then hurry to do it. Strawberry frozen in syrup is sweeter and suitable for making many desserts. Place the clean, peeled berries in a deep cup, mix with sugar at the rate of 500 grams per 1 kg and leave in the refrigerator for 1 day. When the juice appears, pack the sweets in plastic containers.
• Sorbet. A refreshing treat is very easy to make at home. First you need to boil the syrup from 100 ml of water and 100 g of sugar. Then, in the cooled syrup, add 300 g of washed and peeled strawberries, juice of half a lemon and beat everything with a blender (3-5 minutes). For an airy consistency, the frozen sorbet is kneaded 2-3 times with a fork at intervals of 2 hours.

In the freezer, strawberries are stored much longer than in the refrigerator, but also have a limited shelf life. After freezing, you should eat it for 6 months.

As soon as they call a juicy fragrant berry: strawberries, Victoria, garden strawberries. Adults and children love it for its delicate strawberry taste, the absence of large bones and parasites (worms). It is beautiful as an independent dessert, goes well with ice cream, pastries, other fruits in the salad. Only a few strawberries are able to give the compote a bright aroma. And how much good is hidden in the berry! It has an order of magnitude more ascorbic acid than citrus. It contains manganese, copper, phosphorus, magnesium, and B vitamins. Freezing allows you to save up to 80% of nutrients, while strawberry jam is useful for no more than 20%. Therefore, choosing this storage method, you will not be mistaken! Knowing all the intricacies of the procedure, you will receive almost fresh summer berries in the middle of winter.