How to Freeze Blackberries
This weekend we went to our CSA farm to pick blackberries and peaches. What fun we had! Our first stop was the peach grove (is that the right word?) where there were plenty of ripe peaches just ready to be picked. Our goal was to pick at least 10 lbs so we could get a bulk discount. After filling half of a grocery bag we thought we were good to go. Not so much…it was “only” 6.5 lbs. Oh well.
Next stop…blackberries (the real reason for our trip; the peaches were a bonus surprise)! We had three quart containers (plus a flat if we needed it) that we wanted to fill and after a slow start, we found a sweet spot and filled them up just in time for the wagon to come back for us. It was perfect timing. Carter had a blast finding plump blackberries, and the whole car ride home kept sneaking them into his mouth from the backseat. Little turkey.
It’s nearly impossible to eat all these blackberries as quickly as they need to be eaten, so they needed to be frozen. The problem with freezing fresh berries is that they tend to clump together in a big, solid, frozen mass. How do you solve that problem? Easy. Flash freezing.
Sounds fancy, but all that means is that you put your (gently washed in water) berries on some wax paper laid out on a cookie sheet. Make sure they’re in one even layer with some space in there (a few can touch each other, no big deal), and put the cookie sheet in the freezer. After an hour or so they should be frozen enough that you can put the frozen berries in a freezer storage bag, let out as much of the air as you can, and put them back in the freezer.
Now, when it’s the dead of winter and you’re feeling nostalgic for that day on the farm, you can pop some freshly frozen berries into your mouth and relive that wonderful day.
Beautiful photos! We love blackberries but our crop in the area was nearly not existent due to the heat and drought.
Hi, thanks for this. Some ice cream recipes call for frozen berries and I will remember your method.
Wow! This is great info! Thanks!
Someone just asked me yesterday how to freeze blueberries. I knew it had something to do with this “flash freezing” but I wasn’t too sure. This post came right on time because Aldi’s just had a sale yesterday and I bought 10 pints of blueberries and 4 pints of strawberries. Yeah, they were $0.99/pt. Who could resist? lol
* stopping over from First Home Love Life *
http://www.artisticexpressionsbyelisabeth.blogspot.com
What a price!
Great idea!
the blackberries have been so delicious! i bought extra because i can’t get enough of them.
duh?! When I tried to freeze them, I didn’t think to separate them first and they were a solid lump. thank you for this information!!
Thanks for sharing! Your pictures are beautiful!
Thanks so much!
This is so useful! Definitely needing to remember this one
What a great tip. My girls love berries and they are so hard to find in the cold months.
I’ve always wanted to pick my own fruit but I don’t want to make tons of jam out of them. This is the perfect way to have them keep!
I’m a new follower from spicy link up!
http://pampereddaughterthriftywife.blogspot.com/
Thanks for sharing. I just threw out a container of blackberries that I picked. I should have freezed them until I had the time to make a pie!
Oh, what a shame!
Great tip! I’ve seen great sales on organic berries lately, and luckily have a big deep freeze…
I’ll share your gorgeous blackberry photo and this tip on my site Monday. Sharing at Pinterest…
Thanks for linking!
Nicolette
Nicolette, you just made my day! Thank so much!
What a great idea. There are so many uses for frozen berries. Thanks for the tip!
I would love it if you would share this at the Smart Solutions linky party. You can link up here:
http://theprudentpantryblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/prudent-projects-and-smart-solutions.html
Have a great day!
We used to pick blackberries from my grandparents farm. Yum, what great memories. This is a great tip. Thanks for linking to Foodie Friday!
Hi Amy,
We have had a bountiful harvest of Blackberries this year. Your photo’s are awesome. I use this same method to freeze my Berries, great tips. Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Love me some blackberries, and I’ve loved visiting your blog.
Candy
PICKINandPAINTIN.blogspot.com
very helpful! i tried freezing berries once and didn’t flash freeze them. hello, giant clump of blue goo! haha..
thanks for visiting and joining up with us at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Blog Hop – we hope to see you this week again with another seasonal treat!
I am so jealous of you going berry picking, such fun and getting peaches and berries as a bonus. Great idea about the flash freezing! Great share:) Thank you for sharing this at Freedom Fridays!
PS Love the little guy standing in the road!
I just figured out the “flash freeze” method a few months ago myself and works great on so many things. One local market sometimes has $1.00 bags of “use or lose” produce which can be a great deal depending on the contents. Bell peppers are the best deal, cut around any bad spots, dice and “flash freeze”, then just get out whatever’s needed. Before I had to beat a chunk off a big frozen lump of them. I’ve recently used the same method on extra strawberries, and ripe bananas can be peeled, cut in chunks and frozen for future recipes.
Great tip! Thanks for linking up
Great Idea! We love raspberries here, I’m guessing we could do the same thing! So glad you shared at tip toe thru tuesday!
What a great tip. I am constantly needing to freeze my left over berries. I will need to try the flash freezing.
If you get a chance come link up your tip at my Pin Party.
http://www.sarahdawndesigns.blogspot.com/2012/07/pintastic-monday-link-party-1.html
We had tons of black berries at my grandma’s house. We just backed an old truck up into the bushes and stood in the back and got buckets and buckets of them. I was wondering why my berries always clumped together. Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!
It sounds like you had a really fun time! Thanks for the tips on freezing fruit and thanks for sharing at Showcase Your Talent Thursday!
Great tips – I have found that parchment paper works better than the wax paper due to the moisture factor. The wax papaer tends to tear apart and the parchment paper stays intact.
I’ll have to try that next time. I didn’t have an issue with tearing, but it can’t hurt to have another method.
I love doing this with fresh strawberries and then popping them into a glass of champagne.
I’ll be featuring YOU this afternoon over on my blog. Thank you so much for linking up with {wow me} wednesday.
Ginger @ gingersnapcrafts.com
Awesome, thanks!!
Great idea! – fyi – peach “orchard” orange “grove”