Freezing strawberries without losing flavor is super easy. You can freeze the whole fruit or preserve the juicy berries pureed. Find out more about how to quickly freeze fresh strawberries here.
Good news for all strawberry-lovers: You can easily freeze strawberries when they’re fresh and juicy and enjoy them all year round.
Strawberry season varies slightly from year to year, depending on the weather. However, these bright red fruits are usually harvested between May and July; so keep an eye out for them then in your local supermarket or organic food store. At any other time of the year, they are either imported or grown in energy-intensive greenhouses so we recommend only buying them when they’re in season – or freezing fresh strawberries. (Note: Not all foods do well in the freezer! Strawberries do.)
In order to have delicious strawberries for the rest of year, we will show you how to freeze strawberries in different ways.
Freezing strawberries: The Whole Fruit
You can easily freeze fresh strawberries – whether from the organic market or picked yourself – as a whole fruit:
- It is important that you wash the strawberries thoroughly before freezing them. In order not to damage the fruit, it is best to clean them in cold water, for example in a large bowl or sink, and not under running water.
- Remove all stalks and leaves.
- Then dab the berries dry with a paper towel or clean tea towel. They should be dry when they freeze otherwise a layer of ice will form around them.
- To prevent the fruits from sticking to each other when defrosting, pre-freeze them first: Place the berries next to one another, but not touching, on a flat plate or tray and put them in the freezer like that for one to two hours.
- Then move the pre-frozen berries in a reusable glass or stainless steel container (like this one on Amazon**) and store them in the freezer for up to eight months.
Here are more tips on how to freeze foods without plastic: 6 sustainable household hacks
Tip: Use only freshly harvested fruit without marks or holes for freezing. Damaged fruit spoils faster even in the freezer – it’s better to eat those right away.
How to Freeze Strawberries as Strawberry Puree
Instead of freezing strawberries as a whole fruit, you can also puree the them before you put them in the freezer. After defrosting, you will have fresh strawberry puree at hand – a perfect addition to any dessert or breakfast! Here’s how to freeze strawberries as a puree:
- Wash the undamaged fresh fruit in cold water (as described above).
- Remove the stalks and leaves and then dab the strawberries carefully dry with a towel.
- Place the strawberries in a tall container and puree them to a creamy consistency.
- If you want the puree to be even creamier and finer, press it through a fine sieve with a spoon before freezing. This is an easy way to remove the small seeds.
- Now pour the strawberry puree into a stainless steel container or glass and stick it in the freezer.
Tip: You can also pour your pureed strawberry puree into ice cube molds**. Frozen strawberry ice cubes taste great in champagne, mineral water or homemade cocktails or mocktails.
This article was translated from German into English by Ruth Wachsmuth. You can view the original here: Erdbeeren einfrieren: So schmecken die süßen Früchte länger.
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