How to Freeze Berries
Don’t let your fresh summer berries go to waste! Learn how to freeze berries for later use using a few quick and simple tips.
I love summer season – and I’m one step away from being the kid with berry stains all over her face. Like a old broad with blue hair and bad lipstick. I can’t keep it up, it’s getting uncomfortable in my jeans here. And there is only so much a girl can down before you gotta do something with it. You know who else loves berries? Huck. He is named after a berry after all. And he loves blueberries. And cheese. And carbs, but that’s neither here nor there.
Sunday, my dad and bonus mom made a stop by the house after a morning full of berry picking to drop off some of their haul and Huck was more than eager to share in the spoils, bouncing into Bonus Mom’s face, and knocking a couple cups of berries onto the ground and into his face. Mission accomplished. But what had I done on Saturday? Just gone and bought a three pound clam shell of blueberries at the store for a price I couldn’t pass up. So now I have four pounds of berries and there ain’t no way my jeans can deal with the remnants of my Sunday burger slathered in sauce and topped with hash browns and a half vanilla shake and healthy, antioxidant filled berries to the top of it. Food logic fail.
After all those berries and burger in my belly, I’m not the only one writhing on the floor whale-esque – Huck is, too- but letting them go to waste is clearly not an option. So I gave the rest of the berries the big chill until I clear up my schedule to make some cobbler, crisps, smoothies, jams, syrups, pancakes, waffles, muffins, cupcakes, cakes, mocktails, cocktails, sorbets, ice creams, sorbet-linis, and well… uhhh eat them frozen. Cause I’m not above it.
This is probably the most simple how-to yet, and I’m okay with that. I have some whale-esque writhing to get back to with Huck. He’s a champ at berry overeating. I’m catching up.
Step One through Three:Â Wash, dry and pick out all sticks, twigs, and sad looking berries out. Chuck ’em.
Step Four: Lay the berries out single layer onto a rimmed cookie sheet and freeze for 2 hours, or until frozen.
Here’s the story – As berries freeze, the cell walls will break down and if you just chuck them into a bag and then freeze them, they will lump together into a massive wad of frozen fruit ball and they’re ugly! Who wants a berry wad? No one, that’s who! This technique works great on all berries, from raspberries and blackberries, to blueberries and huckleberries.
Step Five: Once the berries are frozen, pour them into a ziploc bag or a click and seal plastic container.
Step Six : Make a smoothie, or a sorbet, or feed them to positively perfect, sappy eyed, allergy riddled, hungry, berry loving puppy. You’re a sucker and you know it.
*Sidebar* Skin shouldn’t move that way…
Check out these other handy How-To’s::
Wicked good how-to post, girl! It’s exactly how I freeze fresh berries. (Such a treat during the winter in muffins, pancakes, waffles, etc.) Nobody wants berry wads. Thanks for sharing! Pinning!
Thanks Stacy!! I have to get my berry fix in the winter – I love this trick :)And blueberry waffles sound amazing right now!
I recently read that pre-washing blueberries (the only berry that has this exception) before freezing them will lead to a tougher skin when ready to use. See here: http://www.pickyourown.org/freezingblueberries.htm
To see whether this is true, I’ve frozen half of my blueberries washed and the other half unwashed and will find out which works better.
They are my favorite summer berry!
That’s a great article Susan – thanks for sending it my way. I’m interested to hear your results. Let me know how they turn out!
I recently read that if you wash blueberries before freezing them it will result in a tougher skin when ready to use. This is according to U of Georgia and Clemson University. Here’s the link:
http://www.pickyourown.org/freezingblueberries.htm
So I’ve frozen half of my berries washed and the other half unwashed. I’ll see whether or not there’s a difference.
Blueberries are my favorite berry!
Such a great how-to!! I love freezing summer berries!
Thanks Tiegs!! Berry season just makes me so happy – I love making it last all year long 🙂
I love freezing berries and then eating them like candy right out of the freezer. So good!
I’ve been eating frozen blueberries by the handful! I love them!
I hate berry wads! 😉
Excellent tutorial, as always.
Berry wads are the worst!! haha Thanks love!
lol massive berry wads. love it.
Um, my version of how to freeze berries would read “go to grocery store. purchase frozen berries. place in freezer immediately upon return home.” hehe. Now how to infuse vodka? That one I could get into!
hahaha I hear ya Maris! Our frozen berries are super spendy though, like 2 pounds for almost $10! I got three pounds of blueberries for $6. It was a good deal I couldn’t pass up. So when they’re on sale it’s a handy trick to know 🙂 And DEF give the vodka infusions a try!! 🙂
Brilliant – no one wants berry wads, that’s for sure!
Thanks so much Kristen! And thanks so much for making it your Pin of the Day!! *blushes*
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Totally stunning photos, my friend! I better get on freezing some berries, asap.
Thanks girl!! I’m totally giving back lit shots a try and I’m loving them!! Happy berry freezing 🙂
Well I am freezing my blueberries at the moment. In blueberry cheesecake ice cream! Can’t wait to taste it. The patch I went to this past weekend was full of berries, just not ripe yet. It took about 2 hours to get 6 pounds. So not enough berries to freeze. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to use your tutorial. 🙂
I’m hoping to get some berry picking in this weekend – I’m in dire need of more! And blueberry cheesecake ice cream is making me drool!!
You couldn’t have posted this at a better time! We are going blueberry picking on Saturday 🙂
I’m going to miss berries SO friggin much once they’re gone for the season. Definitely using this freezing trick! xo
This is so helpful! Thanks so much for sharing!
We just picked 14 pounds of blues this morning, so dang yummy! Great post and photos, Megan – it’s so easy to freeze fresh summer berries, and so many people just don’t know it!
So very helpful!! Preserving summer goodies is a must 🙂
We eat frozen blueberries like candy but typically buy them already frozen. Thanks for the tips!
These are great tips – thank you for sharing!! I just wish I had more freezer space for all of the delicious berries!
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