How to Freeze Fresh Blueberries
Freezing berries is so easy! I always freeze leftover berries that we otherwise wouldn’t have eaten in time, causing them to get thrown out and go to waste. We all know that anytime you buy fruit, it tends to go bad pretty quickly. Berries are also a little expensive, and I don’t like for any food to go to waste!
Freezing blueberries doesn’t take much time at all.
Start by washing your berries.
Once they have been washed, make sure any excess water is drained from the strainer. Go through the berries and pull out any stems or bad berries.
I like to line a large pan with paper towels and dump the berries onto it in a single layer so that any extra water will be absorbed.
This is the pan I use, and it is the best! It’s my favorite pan to use for cooking and doing things like this.
Let the berries sit out on the paper towels for a little bit so they have time to dry. When you’re ready to freeze them, gently roll the berries around on the paper towels to make sure all of the water is absorbed, and pull the paper towels out from under the berries.
Place the pan into the freezer to flash freeze them. This just means you’re freezing them enough so that when you put them into the bag, they don’t get stuck together or become mushy while freezing. They should at least be frozen on the outside before putting them into freezer bags. Usually 30 minutes to an hour is long enough for this to happen, depending on how big your berries are.
Pull them out of the freezer and divide them into quart sized freezer bags or one large freezer bag depending on how you want to do it. I usually use quart sized freezer bags, but I was out this time, so I just put them into one large bag. Make sure you get as much air out of the bag as possible before sealing the bag.
Label the bag with the date. Berries are technically good indefinitely if consistently frozen, but for the best quality, they are good for about 10-12 months. They never make it that long for us anyway.
This is why I like to divide them up into smaller freezer bags, because that way you’re not constantly opening up the bag, and they will stay fresher longer.
What can you use frozen blueberries for?
- smoothies
- desserts
- yogurt
- jams/jellies
- syrup
Or thaw them out for a snack…Austin loves them!
I also do this with fresh strawberries and it works great! After being washed, dried, and hulled, I slice them and then freeze them the same way I freeze the blueberries.
Hope this helps you the next time you want to freeze some berries!
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