How to Freeze All Those Damn Strawberries

Posted on June 29th, 2012 by Tonia 15 Comments


So. You picked like 400 lbs of strawberries and thought it’d be somanyfuns to wash them all, hull them all, dry them all, pre-freeze them all and then bag and freeze them all, right? ME TOO! We’re like twins! Ridiculously good-looking twins. Ridiculously good-looking twins who harbor tragically romantic ideas of what “preserving {like} 400 lbs of fruit” means in real life.

And now here we are, elbow-deep in red juice and running out of freezer bags and freezer space and seriously considering stabbing this paring knife into our eyeballs.

But at least we’re in this together! By the way, feel free to copy my perfect process, conveniently detailed below, but when all your friends ask you why you’re so awesome at freezing strawberries, make sure to credit me. A lot of sweat and tears went into perfecting it, so I want credit!

What you’ll need:

Not pictured: Freezer bags

1. Soak the strawberries in your sink {or, if you don’t trust the cleanliness of your sink, a large bowl} filled with lukewarm water and a splash of white vinegar for a few minutes, agitating occasionally to ensure that dirt and bacteria get washed off the berries.

2. Download and start an audiobook {or rather, your online streaming episode of The Bachelorette because whaaaaat is that Jef guy doing on that show he is way too cool for that kind of thing even though Emily is really pretty but I think she’ll probably pick Sean because he seems like her type, ya know?}

3. Transfer the soaking strawberries to a colander and rinse thoroughly under running water to remove the vinegar taste/smell.

3. Dry the berries off on a clean kitchen towel.

4. Spread the clean, dry berries on a cookie sheet and place in freezer for about 10 minutes or until berries are firm. Use this glorious 10 minutes of leisure to:

a) Make a milkshake from some of the berries plus vanilla ice cream

b) Yell at your laptop, “OMG Emily why can’t you see that guy is a total la-hoooo-za-eerrr! Why would you give him a rose gaaaaahhhh!”

c) Snuggle with the dog for a little bit

d) All of the above, clearly.

5. Put the firm/half-frozen berries into freezer bags and squish the air out of the bags as much as possible while sealing. Store the full, sealed bags in freezer until another craving for strawberry milkshakes strikes. Repeat until ALL THE THOUSANDS OF EFFING BERRIES are in bags.

6. Lose your mind, and blog about it.

Seriously though, a juicy audiobook aids in postponing the dissolve into strawberry-induced insanity. Get on that, for your own good {allow me to suggest Swamplandia! or Wild.}

15 Comments

  1. Terry says:

    Umm, excuse me for pointing this out, but probably due to the strawberry/Bachelorette induced brain fog, you didn’t mention hulling all those thousands of strawberries… which you clearly did since there is a pile of hulls on your pretty countertop… and which I noticed because I was up until 1 am doing the same thing… although my distraction was first a mediocre Netflix film and then a few speeches from TEDTalks. We will thank ourselves in February, right?

  2. Tonia says:

    AHA! Yes. Hulling. The worst part, which is why my brain blocked it out. Thank you for pointing that out and may the strawberry gods smile upon you. :)

  3. Caitlyn says:

    loved the writing in this piece, made me crack up and miss you

  4. niha says:

    Tonia, I love your blog! And I, too, have just completed freezing many many strawberries in a similar manner with limited freezer space too! I will say that it took more than 10 minutes for my strawberries to initially freeze. I guess my berries are bigger {insert inappropriate that’s what she said joke here} :p Have a good weekend!

  5. Bb says:

    Now I’m reading the words from the Tonia I know and love! Thanks for the wonderful post…You have captured the experience in an honest and hilarious, enjoyable way. .I am actually on my way to caits and stopping to pick berries on my way. And yes, I’ve timed it perfectly to get there in the maximum heat of the day on one of the hottest days of the year. Go me.
    B

  6. Tonia says:

    It’s not how big the berry is that matters, Niha. It’s what you do with it. 😉

  7. Tonia says:

    Caitlyn, come here and make me strawberry crepes, pleeeaaasssee?? :)

  8. Mary Ann Wachholz says:

    The best ever kitchen “thingee” I bought years ago was a strawberry stem puller. Almost like a staple puller (old fashioned kind) and it gets the whole stem and core and is much less messy to use than a paring knife. Wish I knew and had access to one 35 years ago.

  9. Pam says:

    Oh yeah, we’re twins, except my fruit of choice this time was 25 pounds of apricots AND 25 pounds of u-pick cherries. All at once. During a really busy week which culminates with us leaving for our honeymoon in, like, 36 hours. Surely, I got this. Right????
    Crazy loves company!

  10. Pat says:

    I almost, but not quite, want to go out and pick berries to just follow your steps. Your comments cracked me up!!

  11. Caitlyn says:

    we had loads of crepes yesterday morning with berries that melt in your mouth, I need to have so many strawberries that I could explode at least once a year. The berries from the farm by you were incredible!

  12. […] this process a little bit easier. You can see the tools you’ll need in the photo above, and head on over to Itty Bitty Impact for the complete low-down! More at Eat Drink BetterStrawberries (In Season Now)Mother's Day BrunchNew Years Local Food […]

  13. tannim says:

    Loading up a good audiobook can really help any task go by much quicker

  14. Sandi says:

    Do you have to go straight from freezer to recipe, or is there a good method to thaw them just for snacking? I had some frozen before that thawed and turned into nasty little sponges :(

  15. Tonia says:

    Sandi, I know the problem you’re talking about…I think my method of pre-freezing them on cookie sheets prior to putting them in baggies will help, but at the end of the day you’re still snacking on frozen-and-thawed berries rather than fresh. :\

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