Finding out whether you need to wash raspberries before freezing and preparing the berries correctly
Freezing is one of the best ways to prepare raspberries for a long period. The products are not processed at high temperatures, and therefore retain most of the vitamins, minerals and other beneficial substances. Berries can be stored in the freezer for a long time.
Raspberries can be frozen whole or crushed, with or without sugar. It is important to carry out the preparation and the cooling procedure itself correctly. Then the fruits will retain their shape, taste and nutrients. It is important to know whether you need to wash raspberries before freezing, what rules exist for preparing berries.
Do I need to wash fruits before freezing?
When asked whether to wash raspberries or not, housewives answer differently. On the one hand, dry fruits are frozen as individual berries and subsequently do not spread when defrosted. Therefore, most housewives recommend not washing the crop.
On the other hand, unwashed raspberries leave behind debris and small insects. If the berries were purchased at the market or in a store, they may contain bacteria that are dangerous to humans, which come from hands and airborne droplets.
Raspberries picked in your garden with clean hands should not be washed. If the temperature in the freezer is below -20°C, it is not necessary to wash berries purchased at the market or in a store, since under such conditions all harmful bacteria die.
If the temperature in the freezer is above -20°C and you plan to continue using raspberries without heat treatment, it is recommended to wash the fruits.In this case, it is important to carefully dry the berries.
Note! Fruits that were not washed before freezing will be more crumbly and firm. When defrosted, they will not leak or lose their shape.
If you intend to harvest raspberries not as a whole, but in crushed form, it is necessary to rinse them. This will not affect the taste of the final product in any way.
How to wash raspberries:
- A large amount of cold water is poured into the basin. The berries are carefully placed there. Move them in the pelvis with your hand, trying not to crush them.
- The fruits are caught from the basin with a colander and washed again.
- Clean berries are allowed to drain, then transferred to several layers of napkins or natural fabric. Additionally, it is recommended to blot the raspberries with a paper towel. The fruits are left until the moisture dries.
Due to the uneven surface, raspberries take a long time to dry, making it difficult to remove moisture from them. To speed up the process, blow cold air on it using a hairdryer or fan.
Other stages of berry preparation
Before freezing raspberries for the winter, prepare them:
- The berries are picked in the morning or evening, when the sun is not active. Work is carried out in dry weather. It is important that there is no dew on the fruits. They are carefully placed in a bucket, basin or trays in thin layers. It is important not to crush the berries during transportation.
- The raspberries are sorted. Remove all damaged, deformed, sluggish, shriveled specimens, berries with green spots. It is not recommended to freeze overripe fruits entirely; they will leak. Choose strong raspberries of bright red color. The dark red fruits are ground with sugar or used for canning.
- The core is removed from the berries along with the stalks. Fruits stained with the juice of mashed specimens are frozen separately.
- In the process of sorting the raspberries, all debris, leaves, bugs, etc. are removed.
Selection of containers
To freeze raspberries, do not use glass or metal containers. The first option takes up a lot of space, is easy to break, and can crack when frozen. Metal utensils react with berry juice, making winter preparation less useful and delicious.
It is recommended to freeze raspberries in plastic containers with a volume of 250-500 g. It is better if they have a flat shape. Then the freezer will fit more products. Plastic glasses will also work.
Some housewives put raspberries in bags. It is easy to let the air out of such a container. It takes up little space.
Note! In order for the berries to retain their taste, shape and vitamins longer, they are frozen in portions so as not to open the same container repeatedly.
How to properly freeze good whole berries
The freezing process is simple. However, in order to make the workpiece of the highest quality, you need to know several nuances.
How to properly freeze whole raspberries:
- The prepared berries are cooled gradually. First they are allowed to stand in a cool room, then moved to the refrigerator. After 1-2 hours, the raspberries are put into the freezer.
- The washed berries are laid out in one layer on baking sheets or trays at some distance from each other. Dry raspberries are frozen immediately in storage containers, but it is better to place them in one layer. This way the fruits will not get wrinkled or stick together.
- Already frozen berries are poured into storage containers in portions. If fruits are stored in bags, remove all air.
Pressured
Damaged berries do not have to be thrown away. They can be frozen in pressed form. Before cooking, they are washed and allowed to drain.
Raspberries are crushed in a separate container or immediately in bags (with a rolling pin). In this form the product is frozen.
Pressed raspberries without sugar are used to make compotes, jams, and sauces. Berries are added to tea and fruit pies.
Advice! Pressed fruits can be mixed with ginger, mint, basil or lemon zest, grated in a meat grinder. The resulting mixture is placed in ice trays and used as fruit tea.
With sugar
By mixing raspberries with sugar, healthy and tasty jam is prepared without preservation. This mixture will taste like fresh berries and is suitable for making pies, compotes, and ice cream.
How to cook raspberries with sugar:
- The washed and sorted fruits are mixed with sugar. Usually for 1 part of berries take 1 and 0.5 parts of granulated sugar. The amount of sweetener is adjusted to taste.
- Thoroughly mash the raspberries and sugar with a potato masher or fork.
- The finished mixture is laid out in plastic glasses or bags and placed in the freezer.
Pureed puree without seeds
A delicious and tender seedless puree is prepared from the berries. Children and adults will love this jam. Makes an excellent sauce for desserts and meat.
To prepare raspberry puree, crush the berries with a potato masher or blend with a blender. The resulting mixture is rubbed through a sieve, removing the seeds.
You can freeze the puree without sweeteners or add sugar. Raspberry honey is considered the most delicious and healthy option. To prepare it, 3 parts of berry puree are mixed with 1 part of honey.
Terms and conditions of storage
Raspberries can be stored in the refrigerator without loss of vitamins for up to six months. Then the composition of the berries begins to change.
The product must not be re-frozen.In this case, it will lose its shape and nutrients and change its taste.
Note! It is important to follow storage rules. Berries are stored separately from meat and fish products.
How to defrost correctly
To ensure that whole raspberries do not differ from fresh ones after freezing, they must be prepared correctly. From the freezer, the berries are moved to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and left for 1-2 hours, defrosted at room temperature. Frost and condensation do not appear on the fruits, they do not become soggy, do not release juice, or lose their shape.
When adding raspberries to pies, compotes, sauces, there is no need to defrost them. Do not speed up the process using a microwave or hot water.
This is interesting:
How to properly dry raspberries at home
Conclusion
Freezing allows you to preserve the taste, shape and nutrients of raspberries throughout the winter. If you follow the technology and take into account all the nuances, after defrosting the berries will be practically indistinguishable from fresh ones. They will not flow or lose their shape.
It is not advisable to wash raspberries before putting them in the freezer. Dry berries hold their shape better and do not stick together. However, if the temperature in the chamber is not low enough, and the berries were purchased and not picked personally, such processing of the product cannot be avoided.