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My Great-Aunt Linda (Hobbit-size, witty, and balding) was unforgettable; so was her freezer. Opening it was a glimpse into her boisterous personality. Bags and bags of frozen fruits and vegetables climbed beyond the rim of the door's shelves thanks to knives and spoons she precariously positioned between the shelves and food in order to expand her freezer space.
Lately, I've been channeling Auntie Linda: During the summer, I freeze fruit to make the fleeting season last a bit longer and because when I visit a grocery store or u-pick farm, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach.
When this happens to you, either set up a canning lab or open the freezer.
Apricot Pancake Syrup
Mixed Berry Sherbet
Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Raspberry Scones
Tips for Freezing Fruit
1. If your fruit is not organic, wash it. (Organic, delicate berries, like blackberries and raspberries, don't need to be washed.) Set the clean fruit on paper towels and gently cover it with more paper towels. Let it dry completely before freezing.
2. For larger fruits, like strawberries, apricots, and plums, core, pit, and stem them, then cut them into smaller pieces, which are easier to store and defrost.
3. Fruits that brown easily, like apples and pears, should be frozen in a sugar syrup: 1 1/2 pounds of sugar (about 3 cups) dissolved in 1 quart of water and about a 1/2 teaspoon of ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid can be purchased at many natural food stores.
4. If you plan to use your fruits for a pie filling, you can freeze them in a sugar syrup to help improve their texture (3 cups sugar to 4 cups water).
5. Fruits that are bruised, like bananas, can be mashed or puréed and then frozen and used later for things like smoothies or quick breads.
6. Freeze fruits using the tray freezing method: Place the fruits in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and set the sheet in the freezer until the fruits are solid. Then package the fruits in freezer bags or square freezing containers, removing as much air as possible before storing.
7. When possible, thaw frozen fruits in the fridge, not at room temperature. If you're in a rush, set the freezer bag or container in cold water.
Ideas for Using Frozen Fruit
Freezing changes a fruit's properties, particularly the texture. In On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee wrote that freezing creates water crystals that puncture the cell walls and membranes of food. So when frozen fruits are thawed, they're softer and the juices leech out. Which means thawed fruit is better prepared than eaten out of hand.
1. Turn defrosted fruit, including berries, bananas, peaches, and mangoes, into a breakfast smoothie.
2. Toss it over yogurt, granola, or cereal.
3. Add frozen berries or thawed mashed bananas to quick bread, muffin, or scone dough.
4. Purée defrosted fruits into popsicles, sorbets, sherbets, or ice creams.
5. Stew them into jams, syrups, sauces, or pie fillings. Heidi Friske, the general manager at Friske Orchards in Michigan, explained that they make their pies using frozen cherries. "We suggest making the pie filling first by cooking the cherries and thickening them with a nice glaze," said Friske. You can refreeze the cooled pie filling in small containers. I recently heard of a woman who places her prepared pie filling in a plastic-wrap-lined pie plate, freezes it, and then transfers the filling from the pie plate to a freezer bag. When she needs her pie filling she just plops it into frozen prepared pie dough and cooks the pie for a bit longer than normal. Brilliant, though I haven't yet tried it.
6. Toss small pieces of frozen fruit on pancakes or crêpes.
7. Use frozen fruit pieces as ice cubes in cocktails. They float!
8. Mix thawed berries into butter for a sweet and fruity spread.
9. Toss frozen or defrosted fruit in sugar and cover it with crumble, crisp, streusel, or cobbler toppings, then cook.
10. Mash thawed berries, add some sugar, and fold them into whipped cream for a fool.
Let us know how you use your fruit excess!
I Disagree with some of your freezing tips \:
A. All fruits need to be washed before freezing, and then naturally allowed to dry.
Plums, Peaches and Apricots do need to be blanched in hot-boiling water for only about 3 minutes prior to removing the skin and pit, and then the fruits can be frozen in halves or sliced and then frozen.
Frozen bananas are nasty and can effect the final color...+READ
I Disagree with some of your freezing tips \:
A. All fruits need to be washed before freezing, and then naturally allowed to dry.
Plums, Peaches and Apricots do need to be blanched in hot-boiling water for only about 3 minutes prior to removing the skin and pit, and then the fruits can be frozen in halves or sliced and then frozen.
Frozen bananas are nasty and can effect the final color of the product making it unappealing.
Both pears and apples can become too tart and soft after thawing to be used for another other than apple-pear sauce.
And with the exception of slicing long veggies (zucchini, butter squash, yellow squash Eggplant) into 1 inch+ chunks, most veggies are better 1st stewed or blanched and then frozen with the exception of Peas, stringbeans, brussel sprouts and washed carrots.
For more details see:
Stocking Up For Health chapter in the cookbook,
LOVE MORE FEED LESS
available on Amazon.com-COLLAPSE
We have a peach tree that Mom planted from a pit in about 1969. She tossed it over her shoulder and said, "If it grows, it grows." It grew. It's on its last legs this year, I fear, but two years ago, we had a bumper crop of the sweetest, juiciest peaches I've ever tasted. More, even, than we could give away. So what peaches remained I just washed, sliced, and froze in Ziploc freezer bags. I used...+READ
We have a peach tree that Mom planted from a pit in about 1969. She tossed it over her shoulder and said, "If it grows, it grows." It grew. It's on its last legs this year, I fear, but two years ago, we had a bumper crop of the sweetest, juiciest peaches I've ever tasted. More, even, than we could give away. So what peaches remained I just washed, sliced, and froze in Ziploc freezer bags. I used some of them for smoothies, made a deadly-good peach pie with some, and the rest are still in the freezer. I guess I'm like my mother - if it freezes, it freezes. I recently planted a raspberry and a blackberry vine, and if we get berries, I'll definitely give the dry-freezing before Ziploc freezing a try!-COLLAPSE
I have a freezer full of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberris right now. I measure out enough berries for one pie and mark the container as such. I also freeze smaller amounts for smoothies, etc. I'll be doing tomatoes and peaches this weekend. Maybe green beans, too. I freeze various hot peppers, whole, in bags, after rinsing and drying them. If you're into the effort, though, tomatoes are...+READ
I have a freezer full of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberris right now. I measure out enough berries for one pie and mark the container as such. I also freeze smaller amounts for smoothies, etc. I'll be doing tomatoes and peaches this weekend. Maybe green beans, too. I freeze various hot peppers, whole, in bags, after rinsing and drying them. If you're into the effort, though, tomatoes are much better canned. There isn't much I don't freeze or haven't at least tried to freeze.-COLLAPSE
Seriously!!?? Ive always been reluctant to do this.
So I can buy super cheap blueberries and such now, rinse dry per the above and say, double freezer bag them---squeezing all the air out???
I always assumed you would need then to be wet to freeze. Anyway, Its really that simple?
Awesome ideas! We have a growers market once a week and are trying to think of a class to go with it. Your food storage and use ideas have inspired my plan. Thanks, Chow! http:www.panhandlerskitchen.com
My Grandma was the same way! I always remember her having frozen fruits and vegetables in all her freezers! (Women in the south don't think that there can ever be an excess of food:)
I remember all of the sudden out of no where at breakfast there would be a bunch of thawed berries for our flap jacks! I really like adding the frozen fruits into the pancake batter so you have fruit flavored...+READ
My Grandma was the same way! I always remember her having frozen fruits and vegetables in all her freezers! (Women in the south don't think that there can ever be an excess of food:)
I remember all of the sudden out of no where at breakfast there would be a bunch of thawed berries for our flap jacks! I really like adding the frozen fruits into the pancake batter so you have fruit flavored pancakes!
Bret
www.gourmetorchards.com-COLLAPSE