How do you freeze fresh fruits?
By coffeebreak
@coffeebreak (17798)
United States
August 1, 2012 8:18pm CST
This isn't exactly cooking, but....can't cook some things without it...so... I ask
I have the opportunity to "stock" up on fresh fruits lately. Usually they are so expensive I am lucky to just be able to afford some for a few days, but lately...I have been buying in "bulk" to a point...cherries are 99 cents a lb. Grapes too. Blue berrys today were $1.99 a lb instead of the usual $3.99 or more. Strawberries..same thing...
So I want to know the best way to freeze them. I already did the blueberries...I washed them and then dried them on paper towels and then layed them out on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer so they would freeze singularly instead of in a bunch. Then I put them in zip lock freezer bags, sucked the air out and put them in the freezer. But...ones I already had in there...the air was out of the bag and the berries were just loose and in a bag of air. Because I froze them first, I am hoping that the air won't produce staleness and dried upon freezing they won't get freezer burn. But...how do you keep them air tight? Isn't it best for them to be air tight? And why are zip lock bags NOT air tight? I suck the air out and it appears vacuum packed kind, but after awhile..the air gets in.
So...do you guys have a better way to freeze fresh fruits? I did lemons and limes yesterday....sliced in 1/4 inch slices then "pie" sliced them into very small pieces so this winter I just have to take a small piece out and put it in my glass of ice tea..no mess, quick and easy! And I did them the same...cut, freeze, bag..and they today, have air in the bag and starting of ice on the wet pulp. Granted, I know that they can't be "dried" and frozen and the liquid in the pulp so there will be some accumulated ice on them, but snice they are so small...no big deal.
How do you freeze fresh fruits?
2 people like this
8 responses
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
2 Aug 12
Good morning coffeebreak. It is so nice to have fruit in the freezer. We like to eat frozen grapes usually the green ones.We usually go to a pick it farm for the blueberries. We were told by the owners not to wash the blue berries before freezing because it causes the skin to be tough. It is better to wash them just before using. I like the idea of freezing them on the cookie sheet to be able to use just the amount you want.I would do the cherries the same way. I saw an interesting way to seed the cherries. You need a straw and a soda bottle. Put the cherry on the bottle and push the straw though the cherry thus pushing the cherry into the bottle. no need to buy a cherry pitter.
I don't think that those zipplock bag are as air tight as they are supposed to be. Some time ago I bought some of those so called air tight space storage bags for clothing and bedding. We did as the directions say to vacuum out all the air. It was very flat but over time they filled up with air.
If you plan to do much freezing or other food storage I would suggest one of those vacuum sealers. They are worth the money if you are going to do a lot of fruit or vegetable. They are even good for meats.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
Well I knew it was best not to wash them when you bring them home from the store as that moisture just sits in the skins and makes them rot faster..so I just put them in the fridge when I bring them home and the take out a day or two's worth and wash that many as I eat them. But never thought it'd be the same in freezing but I can see why it would be. I'll remember that for next time. And that is also why I dry them as completely as I can...so that water doesn't sit on the skin or soak the fruit and cause freezer burn.
I certainly will give tht bottle trick a try..that'd be so much better than cutting them in half to pit them...a whole berry would probably freeze better too...with no freezer burn or mushy-ness. Thanks for the tip!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
I tried your way and it is great!!! I just had some cherries I bought yesterday and was just going to pit them and deal with it, but your comment..made me think... I don't have a bottle in the house....so I just tried your procedure with the straw and no bottle...and it worked! I just put the stem through the straw and pushed the pit out the other side into my fingers! Worked like a charm!!! Wish I'd known that while back! Cherries were on sale for awhile there but I didn't want to deal with the pits so I just bought enough to eat for a few days.
Now, the pieces are in the freezer! Can't wait for my cherry bread/muffins this winter!
1 person likes this
@ShyBear88 (59284)
• Sterling, Virginia
2 Aug 12
We normally put our fruit that my husband likes frozen in a container but we don't always do that. I like my fruit not frozen so I might put them in the refrigerator and I'll eat it with in a couple of hours to day or so. There isn't too many ways to keep things from getting frostbit or anything so you just got to have good timing.
2 people like this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
Yeah, frost bite is a bear. I know I'll get it on the lemons and limes slices but the rest, I don't know. The blue berrys are not cut so hopefully they won't get it but I am going to do cherries today..half them and pit them then freeze them like that. I want to have these for the winter time...blue berry muffins and cherry bread!
1 person likes this
@ShyBear88 (59284)
• Sterling, Virginia
3 Aug 12
My husband likes blues frozen, I don't like any of my fruit frozen. I like it cold but that is it for some of them or just room temp.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
4 Aug 12
Only reason I am freezing htem is to have them this winter...odds are they will just be for baking as I don't think they'd be too good on their own.. I'll have to see about that. I would think they'd be a bit soggy after being thawed, but they will be great for muffins and bread and to add to yogurt or smoothies. I can't eat fruit cold..has to be room temp..hurts my teeth if it is cold!
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
Not a whole lemon, but in these slices..no prob. I had some once and sliced them nicely thin and froze them that way, and then at a party I took them out of the freezer and put them in the punch bowl and they worked great. But in these little pie shaped slices...no prob. I tried both the lemons and the limes that I did about a month ago, and they work fine. I like the really small piece as I can just drop one in my glass and be done with it instead of squeezing and holding it for another glass etc.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71664)
• United States
2 Aug 12
I read that you are not supposed to rinse fruit until you eat them because it makes them go bad faster. I have notice when you rinse blueberries and freeze them then thaw them they get kind of sour or fermented snelling. I just put my blueberries in a ziplock bag in the freezer and rinse them right before cooking with them.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
I learned from Rachele Ray while back to not wash after you buy, but just before you eat for that reason. So I just take out a small bowl full and wash them to eat for a day or two and leave the rest in the fridge, unwashed until I want more.
I didn't think about that when i preparing for freezing. But I did wash them and dried them very well with paper towels to absorb all water. And froze them. I'll have to remember come winter when I use them for baking or in cereal...to take a taste and add a bit of sugar first if the taste is off. And if I get anything else, I wi8ll remember not to wash them first.
@marguicha (215531)
• Chile
2 Aug 12
I only freeze apricots because I have an apricot tree in my garden. I take out the pit, coat them with some sugar so they don´t stick together as a mass and freeze them. I suggest you search online for each fruit as all of them have special needs.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
Thanks for the tip....i will do a search, but I always like to learn from those that have personal experience with the issue. I mean a book can tell you alot, but in real life...things happen that the book doesn't tell you about! So I always go to personal experience first.
Is the sugar just so they don't stick together? or is it to sweeten them after the freeze?
I'd love to have enough to use my dehydrator and make dried fruits..trail mix too. But fruits are so expensive...1 lb of anything dried equals 1/4 lb (or sometimes less) of the dried product. Apples are great dried, but when I have to pay about 50 cents for one apple, and that'd dry to just about a mouth full of dried apple pieces, I just can't afford it. So that is why I am trying the freezing way.
1 person likes this
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
3 Aug 12
I have found through my own experiences that parly cooking the fruits then putting them in airtight freezer bags or containers does very well for keeping the fruit fresh in the freezer. i am sure there are other tried and true methods as well so you just have ti experiment with what works best for you. 1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
4 Aug 12
Yeah, I'll take some out next month and see how they work. That is why I always like to ask for personal experience on things like this...people have the experience a book doesn't.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
2 Aug 12
For forzen fruits, I usually washed them in a combination of water and vinegar (to kill any germs. Let them air dry 100%, then place them in a plastic baggy and squeeze all the air out to prevent freezer burn.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
I double wash them and drain them in a strainer then lay them on paper towels to get as much water and dampness as possible...but didn't know about the vinegar. Does that change the flavor after they are thawed?
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@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
2 Aug 12
So do you think that if I stuffed a paper towel in the bag to "fill the bag up" that there it would absorb the air made from the fruit and the suction wouldn't fail? OR do I have to check the bags every week while they are in the freezer and suck the air out weekly?
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