What's the best way to freeze fresh berries?

pjlippert

Cathlete
What have you all found to be the best way to freeze fresh berries? Our local King Soopers has an awesome sale on all of the yummy Summer produce and I want to stock up and not have it go to waste. Also want to have them available when they are out of season.

I bought raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries and mangos (not a berry obviously!) :p

I checked the internet and wasn't impressed!

Thanks!
Pam
 
I've only frozen blueberries, wash and take the stems out, and bad ones, shake off the excess water & put them on a rimmed cookie sheet, freeze them for 30-45 minutes to coat with a little ice, then you can bag them & they won't stick together. You could do cherries like that , pit them & take the stems off first.

For raspberries, haven't tried but I thought I read somewhere that green ones have more nutritional value, and would be easier to freeze like above. Have not done strawberries or mango.

Lasts about 6 months in freezer, double check that though.:)
 
Ditto on the cookie sheet...I have had great success with this..then they are individually frozen and not a globby mess! Good luck!
 
For strawberries, I cut the top off, rinse and dry off with a paper towel, cut in half and put in a ziploc bag. I've been doing it while they are in season. I use them in my protein shakes.

You could do the same with the cherries - take the pit out first.

Mangoes should be even easier - no rinsing and patting dry.
 
I only ever freeze raspberries and blackberries.

How you freeze them depends upon what you intend to use them for.

If you intend to use them for smoothies, putting into cake or muffin batter, then simply put them straight from the carton into ziploc bags and into the freezer. I only ever make smoothies with berries, so this method works great for me. I simply defrost a bag of berries by blasting them for 60 secs in microwave and they are good to go in the blender or hand held device.

If you need them to retain their shape as decoration in some fabulous summer dessert, then yes, putting them on cookie bake trays and freezing them, then putting them into ziplocs is the way to go.

Clare
 

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