It is strawberry season finally, I have been waiting a whole year for it. Last year due to bad weather, the strawberry season was very short and I missed out on eating my favorite Hood Strawberries. Last week, I went berry picking with my friend and her cute 11 month old daughter . We had a great time, as we were the only 3 ppl on the strawberry field. I picked not much but about 5 lbs of strawberries. I should say I was very very thrilled. I came home not knowing what I am going to do with 5lbs of strawberries.
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| 5lbs of Strawberries and fun :) |
Here's what I did to freeze almost half of my berries to eat later. I learnt these tips from my friend whose mother freezes them this way.
It must be common sense to many of you, but I never knew this until a few days ago and thought it would be nice to share this with all of you. Strawberries once picked can get mushy in 2 days, so you can do this either the same day or the next day after you pick them.
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| I picked every single one of these :) |
Step 1 : Put your strawberries in a colander and wash them thoroughly. Look for dirt marks on the strawberry and wash off completely.
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| I love taking macro shots of strawberries, I think they are beautiful |
Step 2 : Place a kitchen towel or napkin and let your strawberries dry completely. Make sure there is not much water on the strawberries, and they are not wet. I did not remove the tops or chop them, as I wanted to keep them as is. You can take off their tops and slice them before you are ready to freeze.
Step 3: Use a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it, place strawberries individually on the sheet. They should not be sticking to each other. Freeze them for a couple of hours. This extra step will ensure you have individually frozen strawberries and not ones that are clumped and frozen to each other. It will also be easier to use them.
Step 4: Remove them from the freezer and put them in a ziplock bag and back in the freezer again.
Tada, its that easy.
I hope you have fun strawberry picking with your family !!! :)
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| My basket of happiness |
Just what I needed -- thanks! I usually make some jam out of some of them, and now I know how to freeze the rest that I can't eat right away. Now I can go get my flat of strawberries.
ReplyDeleteHarini, Yes my friend Bridgitte gave me some great tips to store strawberries. I picked another 7lbs today with Arjun, You should share the recipe of your jam soon :)
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