How to freeze berries, vegetables and fruits: detailed instructions

General rules

1. Freeze only fresh vegetables, fruits and berries. They should not be too soft or damaged.

2. Wash and dry thoroughly before freezing. If you do not dry it well, everything in the freezer will stick together in an ice ball.

3. Freeze vegetables and fruits in the form in which you will use them. Many foods become softer than fresh ones after defrosting. Therefore, first clean and grind everything you need, and then send it to the freezer.

4. Use plastic containers or special freezer bags. Be sure to sign the containers so that you do not rack your brains later trying to remember what it is orange inside and how long it has been here.

5. Freeze in small portions. So you don't have to suffer chipping off the right amount of the product from the frozen piece. There is a life hack: put the vegetables in bags, flatten each bag to let the air out, and then divide the contents into slices with the blunt side of the knife. They will be easy to break off without defrosting everything at once. Fruit, vegetable and berry purees can be poured into silicone ice cube trays.

6. Set the temperature to –18 ° C. In such conditions, vegetables and fruits can be stored for up to 12 months. It is better not to fill the freezer with everyone at once, but add new foods there in small portions. It's good if you can select separate compartments for vegetables, herbs and fruits: frozen foods are excellent at absorbing odors.

7. Freeze seasonal foods. For example, eggplants and tomatoes are sold at exorbitant prices in winter and spring, and they taste like styrofoam. But there is no point in sending potatoes and cabbage to the freezer: they are available in stores all year round, so save space.

How to freeze vegetables

First, let's talk about vegetables that do not need to be frozen - these are cucumbers, radish and green salad … After defrosting, they turn into a slurry, which is difficult to find any use.

Tomatoes also lose their shape, but this does not really matter for cooking. For soups, stews and sauces, freeze tomatoes in cubes, for casseroles and pizzas, freeze in slices. You can grind the herbal tomatoes in a blender and freeze the mixture in silicone molds.

Zucchini and eggplant it is better to freeze ready-made: cut them into circles or cubes and generously pour over boiling water or fry in vegetable oil. Then divide into portions and freeze each in a separate container.

To cauliflower and broccoli they were not tough when thawed, divide them into inflorescences, rinse thoroughly and put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes. It's worth blanching green beans and green pea - it must first be removed from the pod. Corn boil and use a knife to separate the grains from the cob.

Bell pepper can be frozen in pieces or whole. If you make a circular cut around the stem and carefully remove the seeds, you get a blank for stuffed peppers. Make several such blanks, dry and insert one into another - this will save space. Put the pepper "matryoshka" in a bag and send it to the freezer.

Carrot before freezing, you must thoroughly wash, peel and cut or grate. Beetroot - boil and grate. You will get a ready-made basis for the salad.

You can make a ready-made mixture for soups and stews from vegetables in different versions:

tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini;
cauliflower, carrots, green peas, green beans;
corn, green peas and bell peppers;
eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers;
broccoli, bell peppers, corn, green beans.

How to freeze fruit

Choose fruits that are relatively firm and not overripe so they don't turn into mush when thawed. If the fruit is already quite soft, freeze it as a puree - it can be served with pancakes and pancakes, or used as a pie filling.

Bananas peel, cut into 3-4 pieces (depending on the size of the fruit), dry with a paper towel and store in a solid container. Do not trust those who advise freezing them in their skins. Or try peeling off the frozen peel from a banana for fun.

Apples and pears cut into pieces and drizzle with lemon juice to keep them from darkening. Apricots and peaches Divide into halves, remove pits and place in a plastic container.

Oranges do not freeze: after defrosting, they taste bitter. But you can put containers with juice or bags of grated zest in the freezer.

How to freeze berries

After defrosting, the berries will be softened, it will be inconvenient to process them. Therefore, before freezing, remove the stalks from strawberry and gooseberry, remove the bones from plums, cherries and cherries, a grape and currant separate from the bunches. Raspberries soak in water to make random worms float up. You don't need to divide the berries into small portions: if they are well dried, they will not stick together.

Strawberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberry it is better to freeze in containers to keep their shape. Cherry, plum, black currant, cranberry, blueberry and gooseberry can be stored in packages.

For desserts, berry puree is useful, for example from strawberries, raspberries, black currant or cherries … Grind the berries in a blender and freeze in small portions in plastic containers.

Lifehacker and Scarlett give recipe prizes

Share your fruit, berry and vegetable juice or sorbet recipe and win one of six Scarlett juicers. Click on the form below, log in using your VKontakte or Facebook profile and send the recipe.

Describe the preparation process in detail - this way your chances of getting a prize will be higher. In each category, a Scarlett jury will select three winners to receive the Scarlett juicers.

We collect all the recipes on a special page, where you will also find detailed information about the prizes.