Freezing Fresh Fruit

We have a cherry tree and sometimes buy fruit cheaply, but don't get it eaten as quickly as it ought to be. My next door neighbor gave me a blueberry (a huge one) that she'd frozen. That got me thinking, so when we harvested the cherries yesterday, I quickly put most of them in dollar store snack bags and tossed them into the freezer.

We've had a scorcher going on, and the humidity's been horrid. What a delicious, cooling treat the frozen cherries are today! We also have frozen raspberries, watermelon and blackberries.

By Cornelia from Oregon

Answers:

Freezing Fresh Fruit

Up here in Alaska where the berries are plentiful I pick about 20 cups of raspberries and blueberries every year. Here is my process. Pick them and then throw them on a cookie sheet to freeze for about 1.5-2 days. Then, I transfer them into zip-locs (or my favorite a reused cheese shaker). This way they do not freeze into a huge clump and will come out as individual berries. (07/07/2009)

By Jennifer Bisson

Freezing Fresh Fruit

I haven't had trouble with clumping too much. some pineapple clumped but they weren't hard to break free. The cherries clumped a tiny bit, maybe 4 (2 pairs) in a bag of 20 or so. I wonder if it depends on the type and brand of freezer? So for me, it's just a matter of tossing 3 or 4 handfuls into snack bags and tossing them into the freezer.

Since our weather's in a rocketing/plummeting mood this summer, it is now too cool to need snacks to cool down by, but a lawn mowing or some hard work in the garden still gets them eaten. They are so much better than a soda or flavored drink to cool down by. (07/07/2009)

By Cornelia

Freezing Fresh Fruit

I think clumping also depends on the berry or fruit. My strawberries clump, but not blueberries or cherries. Some berries have a smoother outer skin and won't naturally clump. Textured fruit, like strawberries or chopped pineapple, are more likely to stick together. (07/07/2009)

By Emily Pierce