Friday, May 22, 2015

Quick Tip: Flash freezing blueberries

We're just about to hit blueberry season in my area, and I love to stock up on them. Not only do I use them fresh, I flash freeze a bunch for use later in the year.
For those that don't know, flash freezing is super easy. Just simply wash the blueberries, remove any blemished berry or errant stem, dry them a bit (if you have a salad spinner, use it and you'll cut your drying time down to almost nothing!) Then just place them on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze until the berries are partially frozen and kind of firm (approx. 10 - 15 minutes.) Remove from freezer, place in freezer bags, label with contents & date frozen, and pop into your freezer.
That's it! Oh, and the best part? If you're baking muffins or making smoothies, you don't even have to defrost the berries. Just scoop out as many as needed and go. Doesn't get much easier than that! grin emoticon
This method can be used for almost any type of berry, too, so don't think if you see a great deal on strawberries, that you're stuck either with making jam or risk wasting the berries because you couldn't use them before they went bad.

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