How to Freeze Fruit to Maintain Summer Goodness through Winter
Don’t you just love the luscious bounty of summer fruit?
I am so excited when strawberry season rolls around. I think one of the reasons it’s my favorite is because it’s right around my birthday. My Mama, Dolly, used to take advantage of the season and make me a strawberry cake or strawberry shortcake for my birthdays. So, you see....there’s a precious memory attached to it! I also get really excited about blueberry season. My parents had blueberry bushes and we loved going out and picking the blueberries when they were ready. We were able to salvage a couple little blueberry bushes from the home place before we sold it so now we have our own fresh blueberries! 😊 I could go on and on about peaches, pineapple, etc. We usually have more than we can or should eat when we buy summer fruit. We both love fresh fruit that is in season but we both have to watch our sugar intake so I like to eat a little and then freeze the rest to enjoy later.
We like to just grab a few berries and throw them in a smoothie or eat them with yogurt or to top off a smoothie bowl. It’s so simple and anyone can do this!
We like to just grab a few berries and throw them in a smoothie or eat them with yogurt or to top off a smoothie bowl. It’s so simple and anyone can do this!
Once you have your fruit, wash it and lay it out on paper towels to dry.
Once they are dry, spread them on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Just make sure the berries aren’t touching each other.
Put the whole sheet pan in the freezer and allow them to freeze for a few hours or overnight.
Once frozen solid, transfer them to a container. I just pick up the edges of the parchment and use it like a funnel to pour them in a gallon size ziploc. I write the date on it to make sure I’m using the oldest first and then pop the bag back in the freezer. The cool thing about this is that the berries are frozen individually so you are able to just to get out what you need at any given time.
As far as strawberries go, I wash them, hull them and cut them in half. I then lay them on a parchment lined sheet pan and pop in the freezer. Once frozen through, I use the same method of storing in a ziploc. You could leave the strawberries whole, but if I’m blending them in a smoothie then halving them seems to work out better.
I also freeze peaches the same way. And I leave the peeling on. I just wash the fuzz off, slice them and place them on a sheet pan and freeze until frozen through. With peaches, they will retain their color better if you place them in a ziploc with lemon juice and shake them up so they are coated before placing on the sheet pan.
Another super easy fruit to freeze this way is pineapple. I trim up the pineapple and then cut it in cubes and lay it out where it’s not touching – single layer – on a sheet pan covered with parchment. Once frozen, I put it in a ziploc and store for later use. If you’re unsure about how to cut a pineapple, please check out my post with step-by-step instructions here.
