Nowadays you can pretty much see strawberries all year round in your average supermarkets, and pretty much anywhere in the world but nothing beats seasonal fruits supporting the local market and respecting seasons. After all, it is all about decreasing our carbon footprint on our beautiful planet. Strawberry season does not last long, and one must consume these at the peak of the season rather quickly. Right in between.
We have found smart ways to enjoy these red beauties all year round, by keeping some in the freezer for the winter season adding a little warmth and sunshine to your palette. These interesting ways to freeze strawberries will bring a little winter sunshine to your life!
Freezing whole strawberries
This can seem like the most daunting of all tasks but, do not be alarmed. This will clarify in black and white, that this is one of the easiest and most practical ways of freezing your strawberries, keeping all their freshness and goodness inside them all. The most important will be to wash them correctly, keep the ones that are red but not overly ripe nor keep the ones that can be veiny with the white stripes going across them. Although cutting them in halves or quarters will be perfectly acceptable, we would recommend if you could, to keep them whole.
Their preservation will be better and all of the natural juice will stay within its fruit. And remember, pat them dry after the wash before freezing them. If not, you will end up making strawberry sorbet out of them. Water will freeze within the strawberry, and therefore will not only damage them, but they will lose their shape and flavour too.
Freezing strawberries in sugar
Recipe via tasteofsouthern.com
Getting sweet strawberries nowadays can be a rather challenging task. With global warming and bizarre weather forecasts all around the world, beautiful fruits, and vegetables are not easy to choose wisely anymore.
In order to sleep at night and not worry much about how sweet your strawberries will be after buying them, add a little sugar. Before freezing them. Chances are, you will not wash the fruits once thawed, and therefore washing them before cutting them and adding the sugar is your best bet before freezing them. Add a little lemon juice an hour or so prior to serving to counteract the sweetness of the sugar making your taste buds go haywire.
Steps to store frozen strawberries
This is a long way to go by freezing your strawberries but if you wish to enjoy your strawberries at alternative times of the week without having to defrost all of them at once for immediate consumption, then read on!
On a lined sheet pan, put your strawberries onto it, not touching one another. Leave them space so they do not stick together. Once frozen, take them out and place them in an airtight container. They will not stick together. So, if you wish to have just one, then by all means do. It is a great way to enjoy your strawberries for longer, one at a time.
Freeze strawberries in syrup
Recipe via sustainablecooks.com
Freezing strawberries in syrup is a great way to make a delicious strawberry sauce for ice cream sundaes and for topping cheesecakes, pancakes, waffles, and panna cotta. Freeze your strawberries in syrup in smaller portions to make them easier to defrost.
You can add a little bit of vanilla to add more flavour, cane sugar, and even honey (but note that the honey will not draw out much juice as the caned sugar). To reduce the extra sweetness from the sugar, add lemon juice or even lime zest. To extract more juice you can slowly cook the strawberries in sugar or else sprinkle them with sugar and let them rest in the fridge overnight. Pour the strawberry mixture into an ice block mould and enjoy them later.
Freeze strawberries in mason jars
Recipe via spinachtiger.com
Of course one of the best ways to freeze food is in jars. Any food can be frozen in these mason jars as long as you do not fill them up all the way. You can freeze them whole, sliced, or crushed; with or without sugar or syrup.
If you are freezing them when they are out of season, little sugar will make them sweeter. Trim them first, wash the strawberries, and then let them dry for about 30 minutes (if you want to speed this process, use paper towels). The way you want to freeze them depends on what do you need them for. Usually, the whole ones are for making jam later on, or smoothies; the sliced you can use for cake or any dessert recipes; and the crushed can be for the morning porridge, strawberry coulis, over the morning toast, etc.
See other recipes you can make out of frozen strawberries:
- Strawberry Coulis via linsfood.com
- Homemade Strawberry Jam via charlotteslivelykitchen.com
- Strawberry Vinaigrette via allrecipes.com
- Strawberry Sorbet via asweetpeachef.com
- Strawberry Ice Cream via adventuresofcarlienne.com