Recently, more and more housewives prefer to freeze berries for the winter and store them in the freezer. And this is not surprising, because with this method of storage the berries practically do not lose their original appearance, and also retain their taste and vitamins as much as possible.
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Before freezing berries, it is required to sort out and remove garbage and poor-quality fruits. Next, the berries need to be washed (if they are collected from their site, and they were not chemically treated during cultivation, then this step can be skipped), then dried by spreading on cotton fabric in one layer and left for 30-40 minutes in a ventilated room.
After the berries have dried, they must be laid out in special bags or containers for freezing, pack them tightly, placed in the freezer compartment separately from other products (especially marine, for example, fish). After the work done, you need to turn on the freezer at a minimum temperature for about a couple of hours. In this way, the berries will freeze quickly and at the same time retain the maximum amount of vitamins.
To freeze berries that have lost their shape, for example, slightly mashed cherries, cherries from which the seeds were extracted, you can use the “sweet” method of freezing. You must roll the berries in icing sugar or sand, wait until the juice is released, then put them in containers and freeze at a minimum freezer temperature. This method of freezing allows not only to preserve the shape of the berries, but also beneficial to emphasize their taste in subsequent use.
As for the shelf life of frozen berries, many species, such as lingonberries, cranberries, cherries, cherries, chokeberries, can be stored for up to a year at temperatures from -8 to -12 degrees, but raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, blueberries - only seven to eight months. Do not freeze red and white currants, all types of grapes, since freezing negatively affects their taste.