Monday, July 13, 2015

Summertime - It's All About the Berries!!

Freezing strawberries preserves the tastes of summer for delicious berries to enjoy in smoothies or to add to baked goods all year long.



Because we have such a short window of time to enjoy fresh from the garden berries, I decided to keep on the strawberry theme again today.

My first round didn't seem to last long at all!! We had berries and whipped cream for dessert every night, I made a batch of freezer jam, used some in these delicious scones and froze the rest before they spoiled.

So that meant a trip back to the berry farm to load up on more!!

When you open up that container of jam and that wonderful, pure wonderful strawberry scent hits you, another batch of jam just had to be created.  A quart was kept out for us to eat fresh and all the rest were frozen to be enjoyed in the middle of winter when the berries are expensive and have to travel so far that they have very little flavour left.

The process to freeze them is actually very simple but just requires a bit of time.  Here's how:
Wash and hull the berries.

Lay them in a single layer on a parchment lined baking tray.  Blot gently with paper towel to remove excess water. Be sure they are not touching each other so they freeze individually and not in a big messy clump.

    

Set trays in the freezer for a couple of hours.

When they are frozen, put into freezer bags, remove air and seal.  Be sure to write the date on each bag.  They will keep up to six months in the freezer.

All through the winter months you have delicious berries to add to smoothies or to incorporate into muffins or scones.  If you run out of jam, you can even whip up a batch when the snow is flying outside!!



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