Who does not like munching strawberries? All of you love those red, little strawberries that are an excellent source of Vitamin C. But what if you buy a basket of strawberries, which you cannot finish them all at once? Just freeze the strawberries to keep them as fresh and tasty as they were when you bought them. Freezing strawberries is easy and it lets you buy them in bulk when the prices are low and relish them sometime later. Here’s the guide on how to freeze strawberries in a proper way.
Complexity Level: Basic
Time required: 15 to 45 minutes
Estimated cost: 5 $ to 10 $
Resources Required
1. Strawberries
2. Small, sharp knife
3. Plastic bags or container
4. Water/Syrup/Fine sugar/Lemonade
Instructions
1. Freeze whole strawberries without sugar: Rinse the strawberries and hull them. Remove the outer castings carefully so they can stand on the top if placed upside down. Discard any spoiled or damaged strawberry. Transfer them into a plastic bag or container. With this method, you can freeze strawberries for up to 2 months.
2. Freeze the strawberries with dry sugar pack: Slice the strawberries into half. Now dust sugar over each quart of strawberries and stir the solution with great care. Keep stirring until the sugar dissolves. While stirring the solution, take care not to break or damage any strawberry. Now place the strawberries in a container, seal the container tightly and freeze it.
3. Freeze in light syrup: Take 1 part of sugar and 4 parts of water. Boil them together to make a syrup. Rinse the strawberries and hull them. Now drain off the water from the strawberries and put them in pint containers. Pour the syrup over the strawberries using about 1/2 cup syrup per pint container. Seal the containers and freeze them. This method can let you freeze and store strawberries for up to 6 months.
4. Freeze sugared strawberries: Prepare the strawberries for the freezing process, that is, wash them. Drain the strawberries and hull them carefully. Now sprinkle fine sugar (e.g., caster sugar) over the strawberries and transfer them to plastic bags or plastic containers. This way you can freeze and store your strawberries for around 6 months.
5. Freeze pureed strawberries: Wash and hull the strawberries. Put them in a blender or a mashing device and make a puree of the strawberries. Pour this puree of strawberries into ice trays or little plastic containers. You can freeze this puree for about 6 months.
6. Freeze strawberries in ice cubes: Follow the usual procedure for preparing to freeze the strawberries. Rinse the strawberries and hull them. Now transfer each strawberry into the individual cubes in an ice tray. Follow it up with filling the cubes with water. Choose little strawberries that will fit in the cubes of ice trays without getting damaged. You can preserve your strawberries for about 2 months with this method. The strawberries preserved in this manner are ideal for adding to cool beverages on hot sunny afternoons.
Quick Tips
1. Be careful about the strawberries you select. Discard the damaged ones. Use only firm and full strawberries.
2. Ensure that you do not damage the strawberries while washing them. To avoid this, wash only a few at one time and handle them gently.
3. If you are someone who tends to forget things easily, you can label the frozen strawberries for your convenience. On a small chit of paper just jot down the date when you kept them for freezing and glue the chit to the container. Now you can keep track of the frozen strawberries, especially if you have more than one container from different dates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which is the best way to freeze strawberries?
A: There is no particular way to go about this. You can choose whichever way you find to be the most convenient.
Things to watch out for
1. Ensure that you dry the strawberries properly before you go ahead with the freezing procedure. Drops of water on the strawberries can get frozen on them. This will make the strawberries hard to eat.
2. When packing the strawberries in a plastic container or a plastic bag, do not fill them to the brink. Leave some room in the container otherwise the strawberries will get bruised.
