At our house berries are a sign of the season. Each month is marked by a different ripening fruit so staying on top of fearlessly consuming June's strawberries to make way for July cherries and then blueberries and late raspberries is a delightful full time job. We make jam, preserves, pies, crumbles and crisps with abandon and we can still never eat them all. That's a good thing, as we have long winters and a bounty of last summer's berries is welcome in January.
The trick to saving berries for the long haul lies in this simple technique:
1.) Prepare whole berries or cherries by removing stems and pits and rinse well in a colander.
2.) Using a sheet pan lay a silicone baking mat down and gently spread the fruit onto the lined pan making sure they are in one layer, spread out.
3.) Place sheet pan into the freezer laying flat.
Freeze overnight.
4.) When the fruit is frozen solid, slide into gallon size freezer bags. They'll be individually frozen berries allowing you to grab a handful for a smoothie or 3 cups for a winter crumble. Sometimes a pop of a frozen blueberry into the mouth is a delicious diversion from candy (shhhh).
This has been a staple in preparing our home for "fresh" fruit year round and I look forward to mountains of the fresh stuff each summer because it's manageable ... and delicious.
Cheers & happy freezing~
