How to freeze berries for the winter: the right freezing technology. What can be frozen for the winter in the freezer from vegetables, fruits and herbs? Is it possible to freeze berries

Freezing berries for the winter is a convenient and profitable way to preserve food. How to prepare and freeze berries so that they do not become an ice block? How to preserve their vitamins and valuable macro/microelements to the maximum? Useful and practical life hacks in our review.

Freezing berries for the winter: the nuances

Almost all berries can be frozen.

It is best to freeze berries of 200-250 g. The optimum temperature is -18-23 o C.

Before freezing, sort the berries, cut off the tails. Rinse and dry.

How to choose the right berries for freezing

Always take fresh fruits, but not overripe. Overripe berries "do not hold" their shape, even with proper defrosting they can "transform" into puree.

Having collected "country berries" - strawberries, raspberries, currants - you need to freeze them as quickly as possible. The less time passes from the moment of picking berries (any), the more likely it is to preserve all the vitamins and usefulness of the fruit.

Stickiness may indicate that the cherries are not fresh. You shouldn't freeze it. If two cherries attached to one another do not stick together, then the berry is fresh and suitable for freezing.

Is white coating on black / red currants, which is popularly called "powdery mildew", harmful? - Yes. This is a dangerous fungus that can cause food poisoning. We choose glossy shiny berries without white bloom for freezing.

To find out if the berry has been treated with chemicals, you need to dip a few pieces of raspberries or strawberries in warm water. If greasy stains appear, then the berry is processed.

Little tricks of choice

How to choose berries that are not treated with chemicals? There is an easy way to check. Dip a few raspberries or strawberries in warm water. If greasy stains appear, then the berry is processed. You can also check in the “old-fashioned way”: throw the berry up; if it, having fallen to the surface, does not lose its shape and springs, then it is processed. If it "blooms" and starts the juice - there are no chemicals.

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To wash or not to wash?

The mistake of many is that the berries do not need to be washed because of their delicate texture. This opinion is often expressed regarding raspberries. But ... be sure to wash the berries! This will further protect our dishes from small berry pests and microorganisms that ... do not die at low temperatures.

Keep the berries away from running water. They can be deformed and "spread". Wash in small portions so as not to damage. It is very convenient to do this in a sieve: poured berries, lowered the sieve into a large container of water, rinsed, let the water drain.

How to wash berries?

Wash raspberries in a solution of 1 liter of water + 1 tbsp of vinegar or 1 tbsp of salt. The berry will not become sour or salty. Can be washed again in plain water.

For cherries, a stronger solution is suitable - for 1 liter of water 1.5 tbsp. Small white worms in the berry are not dangerous. Soak the cherries for 2 hours and they will float.

How to dry berries?

An important condition is to properly dry the berries before freezing so that ice crystals do not grow during storage. The less moisture left on them, the better they freeze.

Paper towel is a great option. But you can dry the berries and ... with a hairdryer. We spread it on a paper towel and blow it on the “cold air” mode.

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Terms and rules of storage

At -20 ° C, berries can be stored for 8 to 12 months. At -8 ° C - stored for about six months.

Jams, compotes, preservation - not a panacea to preserve vitamins. Freezing berries for the winter is a good opportunity to enjoy "pieces of summer" in the winter cold.

Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries are tender berries, it is good to store them in a container, not in a bag. Currants, gooseberries, cherries, lingonberries are best frozen “dry” (open way) without petioles and stored in bags with a slider fastener.

An important condition is tightness. So that excess moisture does not freeze out of containers and bags, and additional odors do not penetrate.

Freezing berries for the winter: choosing a method

Shock freezing is a quick and easy method. You will need a container/bag. Modern freezers have a special “quick freeze” indicator.

Dry (open) method. The berries are laid out in one layer on a flat surface (spacing, board) and sent to the freezer. They get it. Pour into containers or bags. After removing the air - close the fastener or tie.

You can freeze grated berries with or without sugar. This is the so-called "raw jam". To do this, the washed and sorted berries are put in a bowl and sprinkled with sugar (200-300 g of sugar per 1 kg). Place in the refrigerator for several hours to cool. Then blend in a blender until smooth. Pour into plastic bottles or disposable containers and freeze. Any berry is suitable for such a freezing.

Freezing berries for the winter: a few more ways

You will need several disposable plates, plastic bags and containers with lids. Pour the berries in 1 layer on a disposable plate. We cover the same.

The design is only 1.5 cm high. A lot of them will fit in a spacious freezer. We put one on top of the other and freeze for 3 hours.

We take out. We cover the container with a plastic bag and pour the berries from disposable plates, they should not protrude beyond the edges of the side. Cover with a lid and put back in the freezer for 1 hour. Having pulled out the berry "bricks", we tie the bags, after releasing the air. We put it in the freezer, emptying the containers and making the most of the free space of the freezer.

You can also freeze the berries in ice cube trays to use in smoothies or add to tea.

Arrange the washed and dried fruits in ice cubes, fill with water and send to the freezer for 1 hour.

Remove the molds from the refrigerator and carefully squeeze the ice cubes with the berries into a plate. Then arrange in containers in which the berry cubes will be stored.

Secrets of proper defrosting

No less important. Do not want the berries to turn out to be broken or mashed when defrosted? No need to break them off, use a microwave or hot water.

Dip the berry briquette in the storage bag into water at room temperature, not warm. So, having defrosted, the berries will retain their taste and shape.

Do not re-freeze berries, vegetables or fruits. So, you need to immediately prepare the food in portions for freezing.

Read more about how to freeze berries for the winter.

It is possible to save summer aromas and vitamins not only in memory, but also in reality if you have a modern refrigerator (or freezer) and a little time. Ordinary jam, of course, is fine, but still, you see, fresh berries are a completely different matter. You can say that nowadays it is possible to buy anything in supermarkets, even in winter. This is true. But frozen berries from your garden turn out to be many times healthier (and tastier!) than fresh strawberries, which we sell in January. Remember, such strawberries do not even have a smell! So you should definitely try to freeze at least a few berries: in winter, the family will appreciate your efforts.

What do you need to freeze

It doesn't take much to freeze: berries, clean rectangular or square plastic containers, a flat large drip tray, tap water, electricity, and a good refrigerator. As for berries, you can freeze almost everything that grows in your garden or is sold on the market in the summer. It is best to freeze those berries that you cannot buy in the store: raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries, wild strawberries, mulberries, cherries, cherries, bird cherry. Fans can risk freezing a watermelon or melon (in pieces, of course). Before freezing, the berries must be sorted out, washed and dried. Select the strongest, whole and ripe berries for freezing. They need to be washed with warm water without excessive mechanical action, so as not to damage. As for the stalks, seeds and twigs, opinions are divided: someone thinks that with all this the berries will be “more alive”. Others remove everything superfluous, leaving only the berry.

How to freeze

The freezer is set to maximum cold two hours before the start of the freezing procedure. For freezing, it is best to set the temperature to -20 ° C. Very juicy berries, such as strawberries and raspberries, are laid out on a pallet and sent to the freezer for two to four hours. During this time, the berries are sufficiently frozen, and they can be safely poured into containers, sending them deep into the freezer for long-term storage. By the way, you can store frozen berries for a whole year, until the next harvest. Currants, cherries and gooseberries are not such sissies, and they can be poured into containers immediately, and placed in the freezer in this form. Some people use plastic bags to freeze berries, but the berries in them are often damaged, let the juice out and freeze as a monolithic conglomerate. When thawed, they lose their shape and juice. Therefore, packages can only be used for berries with a strong skin or pre-frozen. But in general, containers are more convenient: they are durable, can be of any size, and their square or rectangular shape allows you to use the space of the freezer to the maximum benefit. It is very convenient if the containers are labeled: so you can quickly understand what is frozen in them and when.

Berries should be thawed in the refrigerator. This method is the longest, but it allows the berries to maintain an excellent appearance. You can use frozen berries for compotes, jelly, cocktails, decorating desserts, making pie fillings.

Summer berry season is in full swing! They can easily be stored frozen until winter. Our tips will help you do it right.

Berries need to be frozen as they ripen (if you have a garden), or purchase. When choosing berries for freezing, keep in mind that only fresh, strong berries will endure sub-zero temperatures. Do not try to freeze overripe fruits - they will lose their shape. Before freezing, the berries must be sorted out, rotten or crushed removed.

It is important not only to freeze the berries, but also to preserve their attractive appearance. In order for them to remain appetizing, you need to use plastic containers with lids, plastic bags or disposable cups. The main thing is that all containers are dry and clean. Delicate berries - strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are best stored in containers. Currants, blueberries, cherries and gooseberries can be frozen in plastic bags.

Cherry
Before freezing, you need to remove the stalks and wash the berries well in cold water, trying not to damage them. Then you need to carefully drain the water and dry the cherry on a towel. When the berries are dry, they need to be put in containers or bags and sent to the freezer. Cherries can be frozen with or without pits.

Raspberries
Before freezing raspberries, they must be prepared. To do this, the raspberries are washed with cold water, and then dried, spreading it on paper or cotton towels that absorb all excess moisture. Then the raspberries are laid out on cutting boards covered with cling film and sent to the freezer. Berries need to be laid out so that they do not touch each other. When the raspberries are frozen, carefully pour them into a container and close the lid.

Blueberry
Before freezing, blueberries should be sorted out, large, ripe berries should be selected. Wash and dry. Pour onto a cardboard tray with sides 2-2.5 cm high, put the tray in the freezer. Sort the frozen berries into plastic bags, seal and put in the freezer for storage.

Currant
Currants are remarkably stored in the freezer, they do not lose any useful or taste qualities. Before freezing, the currants are sorted out and the branches are removed. And then they are poured into containers or tight bags and sent to the freezer for storage.

Frozen blackcurrant

Frozen black currants are both healthy and tasty.
Summer is passing, and we are starting to think more and more about the cold winter and the vitamins that we and our loved ones need so much during this harsh time of the year. How to save such vitamin C, which is necessary for a person, which is found in almost all fruits and berries. And the answer comes by itself. Freeze!

Ingredients for making frozen blackcurrant:
Currant 1 kilogram

Step 1: Preparing and Freezing Berries
During the freezing of berries, important nutritional substances called carbohydrates are preserved, unstable vitamins and the most important vitamin C are also preserved, it loses its properties by only 10-12 percent.

To begin with, we will choose the berries, they should be large, ripe and not damaged. The first and very important secret of the correct freezing of currants is not to wash them before freezing! During washing, these berries gain excess liquid and deform. Therefore, we take 1 kilogram of blackcurrant, clean it from leaves, damaged berries, if any, and twigs, you do not need to remove the ponytails! We put the prepared berries on a tray and put in the freezer. The temperature in it should be maintained from -12 to -19 degrees. We freeze the berries for 1 day.

The reason for freezing berries on a tray is that such berries do not stick together into one mass, this simplifies their division into portions, you can always take the number of berries you need, defrost and use for your needs. During freezing, most of the cell sap in the form of water turns into crystals, as a result, the volume of the berries doubles. And during thawing in properly frozen berries, all the juice that was in them remains inside and does not drain.

After a day, take out the frozen berries and quickly pour them with clean hands into a clean plastic bag. Insert a regular drinking straw into the bag and remove all air from the bag. Place your lips on the drinking tube and suck out all the air with one breath into yourself. This process will create a vacuum in the package, which will help to preserve the berries even more securely.

Remove the tube from the bag and secure it with a clip so that air does not get inside. Return the blackcurrant bag to the freezer and forget about it until winter.

Step 2: Defrost Frozen Berries
Frozen currant berries can be thawed in two effective ways.

We take a deep bowl, pour cold water into it and lower a bag of frozen berries into it so that water does not get inside. In this way, the berries are thawed for 20 - 30 minutes, depending on how much currant was in the bag. Place the defrosted currants on a plate.

Step 3: serve the frozen blackcurrant
Frozen black currants are served on a plate, next to a bowl with sour cream or whipped cream. Fresh berries can be added to ice cream or yogurt, bake pies, cakes with them, decorate cakes. Freshly frozen blackcurrants are also used in the preparation of compotes, jelly, marmalade, marshmallows and syrups. Professional cooks use this berry in various types of sauces served with fish and meat. Useful and tasty!

Bon appetit!

Recipe tips:
- In the same way, you can freeze raspberries, strawberries, strawberries, and red currants.
- You can divide frozen currants into more bags in smaller masses. So it will be more convenient for you to get the amount of berries you need from the refrigerator, and the vacuum in other packages will not be broken.
- Instead of a clip, you can use a hair tie or simply tie the bag in a loose knot so that you can easily untie it after freezing.
- Currants frozen in this way can be packaged in clean sterile dry jars instead of bags and closed with sterile dry plastic lids. Store jars of berries in the freezer.
- Fruits and berries can be frozen in another way by making sugar syrup. Boil the syrup, 500 grams of sugar per 1 liter of water. Place the prepared washed berries and fruits without cores, seeds, leaves, stalks in metal molds or plastic bags and freeze in the freezer. After the product you need is frozen, take it out of the refrigerator and put it in warm syrup for a couple of minutes. Syrup temperature 35, 40 degrees. Then, using a slotted spoon, remove them from the syrup, put them in bags and freeze. Get briquettes with berries or fruits. During such a freezing, fruits and berries do not gain much liquid and do not swell much. From above they are covered with an ice crust from sugar syrup. This type of freezing is used for very long storage of fruits and berries.

Berry puree for pancakes, fragrant greens for soup, bell pepper for baking - these and many other dishes can become not only part of the summer menu. If you know how to properly freeze fruits and vegetables, then you can not be afraid to stay in the winter, for example, without your favorite strawberries.

Proper freezing will help preserve all the useful vitamins in fruits and vegetables. Such blanks are much healthier and tastier than their greenhouse counterparts, which are brought to our supermarkets in winter. Not to mention that it will save you money and time spent shopping.

How to freeze berries, fruits, vegetables: 5 basic rules

The problem of freezing vegetables and fruits at home is the preservation of vitamins. A few simple tips will help you make healthy winter preparations correctly.

Choose the right freezer package. Zip bags, containers with lids, and even plastic bottles or tetra packs will do. But it is better to refuse plastic bags: they quickly tear, stick to the shelves and do not provide tightness for products.

The optimum temperature for freezing is from 18 to 23 degrees below zero. This temperature kills harmful bacteria and allows you to store frozen vegetables and fruits for a year.

For freezing, prepare small portions that can be used for one time. Do not re-freeze fruits and vegetables.

Choose fruits, berries and vegetables that are fresh and without defects. So you can not worry about the quality of freezing.

A mandatory rule for all types of vegetables, fruits, berries and herbs: wash and dry everything well.

Proper freezing of vegetables

To save space in your freezer, opt for freezing seasonal vegetables. For example, carrots, cabbage and beets can be bought at any time of the year. But tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini - it is better to freeze.

To make vegetables suitable for cooking in winter, follow the simple rules for freezing:

Vegetables can be cut into cubes, circles or sticks.

If desired, it is better to blanch some types of vegetables (dip the vegetables in boiling water for a few minutes), let them cool and arrange them in packages. You can blanch: peppers, eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli.

Tomatoes are frozen for pizza slices, for sauces and gravy - in the form of mashed potatoes.

Peppers can be frozen either cut into cubes or whole, after removing the core and seeds.

Boil the corn, separate the grains from the cob and freeze.

Green peas and beans are frozen without pods.

Chop the greens, put in a plastic bag and roll up (greens can be pre-blanched). This method of freezing will significantly save you space in the freezer.

It is very convenient to make special vegetable mixes for soups or garnishes. To do this, select vegetables for a specific dish (soup, pilaf, ratatouille, stew), cut, place in a container and freeze. Do not forget to sign the package and indicate the composition, so as not to get confused.

How to freeze fruits and berries at home

Sort berries and fruits, rotten and damaged fruits will need to be removed. Wash everything well, dry and arrange in bags or containers.

To prevent the berries from sticking together: after the berries are dry, spread them on a tray and send them to the freezer. After a few hours, take it out and pour it into a container. This way they will remain whole.

You can do the same with fruits, after peeling them from the seeds and dividing them into halves.

Strawberries, currants or apricots can be mashed. Add sugar in proportions 1:1 and beat with a blender. Puree is perfect for pancakes, as a sorbet and other desserts that children love so much.

List of foods that should not be frozen

Almost any vegetables and fruits are suitable for freezing for the winter. But there are exceptions among them:

do not freeze radishes and cucumbers. They have a lot of water and when defrosted they turn into an inedible mixture;

frozen green salad will also not please you with its taste;

orange after freezing bitter;

raw potatoes will darken in the freezer and be unsuitable for cooking;

watermelon and melon also contain too much water and are not suitable for freezing.

How to defrost vegetables and fruits

Thawing is just as important as freezing to preserve vitamins. The most important thing is to defrost slowly and best of all in the refrigerator.

For example, you can move packaged frozen vegetables overnight from the freezer to the refrigerator and use them for cooking in the morning.

For baking, you can use immediately frozen berries and fruits, without prior defrosting.

It is not necessary to wash thawed vegetables and fruits, as this also loses their taste.

Have you ever wondered what the right diet should be? We invite you to get acquainted with the menu for three days and the basic principles of a healthy diet.

The most important thing about how to properly freeze berries, vegetables and fruits

You can freeze most vegetables, fruits, berries and herbs.

When properly frozen, they retain vitamins and minerals that we lack so much in winter.

The process itself will not take you much time and does not require special skills: choose the best fruits, wash, dry, chop if necessary or leave whole, place in containers with lids.

Now, on cold evenings, you can always treat yourself and your loved ones to delicious dishes with summer ingredients.

Berries, fruits and vegetables are natural sources of vitamins, minerals, bioflavonoids, amino acids and other substances, without which the normal functioning of human organs and systems is impossible. To provide the family with valuable plant products for the entire cold season, you can use the freezing function. Berries in the refrigerator, in the freezer compartment, are stored for 3-12 months without loss of taste, aroma and useful composition. The main thing is to choose and prepare products correctly. Let's look at the nuances of their preparation and storage.

Today you can buy fresh herbs, vegetables, fruits and berries all year round. Some types of products are grown in greenhouses, others are brought from southern countries. But experts in healthy nutrition prefer frozen seasonal products. They have fewer pesticides, more vitamins, pectins and other substances formed under the influence of natural sunlight without excess fertilizer.

Important! Proper freezing preserves vitamin C in full in fruits, all B vitamins, as well as other water-soluble active ingredients.

In addition to the useful composition, the berries retain their shape and color, do not lose their natural flavor after defrosting. That is why they are so useful and in demand in the winter season, with its characteristic beriberi, viral respiratory diseases and sun deficiency.

Freezing berries in the refrigerator allows you to always have a valuable natural product on hand. It plays the role of an independent vitamin dessert or is a raw material for the manufacture of other dishes. These are ice cream, pie filling, mousse, smoothies and so on. There are a lot of recipes for berry desserts that use frozen foods.

How to prepare the freezer

The day before the proposed preparation of products for the winter, the freezing mode is turned on. For berries in the freezer, a separate tray is allocated. They should not come into contact with raw meat and fish, aromatic herbs: dill, parsley. Such a neighborhood is fraught with a change in the aroma of berries and infection with microbes that may be found in raw meat products. The meat undergoes heat treatment, and the berries are often consumed fresh, slightly defrosted.

In advance, they purchase flat trays or plastic dishes, the size of which will allow them to be placed in the chamber for pre-cooling the fruit. After the berries are frozen and placed in containers, the freezing mode is changed to the storage mode. At the same time, the air temperature in the refrigerator is set not lower than -8°C. The lower the temperature, the longer the shelf life. Experts note that with its indicators from -18 ° C, the berries are stored in the refrigerator for about 1 year without loss of quality and useful substances.

Container or package?

How to freeze berries in the refrigerator and what container to use for this? It all depends on the type of fruit, their size and the size of the freezer. Large fruits are more convenient to store in ordinary plastic bags, so they take up less space.

Small berries, such as blueberries or strawberries, are more convenient to scatter in plastic containers with lids. Do the same with pureed fruits. But strawberries of medium size or cut in half are recommended to be placed in zip-lock bags. Do the same with pitted cherries.

Used plastic bags, glass containers, plastic bottles, yogurt or ice cream jars are not used.

Selection and preparation of berries

For freezing and long-term storage in the freezer, ripened dense berries without cracks, spots and other defects are selected. Overripe, unripe and soft fruits are not suitable, as they give a lot of juice and acid.

Berries, except for raspberries and strawberries, are washed under running water, the stalks and leaves are removed. Raspberries and strawberries are not washed, as they will quickly lose their shape, color and look unpresentable after defrosting. Such berries are only sorted out and cleaned of debris and foliage by hand.

After that, the fruits are allowed to drain, scattered on a kitchen towel to dry completely. To make the drying process go quickly, a light cotton towel is also placed on top. Now everything is ready for freezing.

Freezing methods

Berries, like fruits and vegetables, can be prepared whole for the winter, in slices or in the form of mashed potatoes. It all depends on the taste preferences of family members and the quality of the raw materials. Full freezing is always preceded by a preliminary freezing for 4-6 hours. This is necessary so that in the future the berries are easily removed from the bag or container, do not stick together and do not turn into one big lump. Rules and technology of pre-freezing:

line a tray or flat dish with parchment paper;
lay out the berries so that they do not touch each other;
place the tray in the freezer for at least 4 hours.

Pre-freezing is necessary for whole and cut fruits. Only puree does not go through this stage of harvesting.

Whole berries

This method is suitable for any berries from large strawberries and blackberries to wild blueberries. For raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, it is important to properly freeze the fruits. To do this, they are laid out on a tray separately from each other and well dried. Excess moisture will adversely affect the density of the berries after defrosting.

Small fruits, such as blueberries, cranberries or strawberries, can simply be scattered on a tray, regardless of density. In the future, they are easy to separate by hand.

After freezing, the berries are quickly poured from parchment paper into prepared containers. If the fruits are stuck, you can use a spatula, but do not touch them with your hands. The skin will stick to the berries, and those will deform. The process should take a few minutes. The filled containers are immediately placed in the storage chamber.

Video: freezing berries

Slices

This method of harvesting for the winter is more suitable for large ripe strawberries. It is cut into two or more slices, laid out on a tray and frozen.

Tip: the berry should be dense, not overripe, well retaining its shape after cutting. Unripe fruits are not suitable, as they have a white core that looks unpresentable. It is enough to freeze strawberry slices for 2-3 hours and arrange them in bags.

Assorted berries

Homemade berry platter is a delicacy for children and adults. If you prepare it correctly, you get not just a vitamin cocktail, but also a beautiful natural dessert. Fruits that are ideal for forming assorted:

small dense strawberries;
garden blueberries;
black currant;
cherry.

Raspberries and blackberries go great together. The berries are frozen together, then at the same time put the mixture in a bag and put it in storage. Preliminary freezing is carried out for at least 6 hours.

Video: how to cook and freeze a berry mix

Puree

You can freeze not only whole fruits or slices. An alternative to heat treatment is berry puree frozen in the refrigerator. It is prepared with or without sugar, as desired.

For puree, choose ripe berries with a maximum content of natural sugar. It is not necessary to dry them thoroughly after washing. Using a blender, grind the berries to a puree state. For this type of freezing, fruits of one type or assorted are suitable. The main thing is the absence of bones.

Proper freezing is an easy way to prepare a seasonal crop for the winter. More and more housewives prefer this option for winter preparations, gradually moving away from cooking, preservation and pickling. This saves time and does not require special skills and experience.