Freezing Strawberries

[China Doll]

I eat strawberries for breakfast most days but even with that I only get through a whole sainsburys box (400g I think) from Mon - Fri. They had a buy one, get one free offer on them yesterday so I have an extra box and I was wondering if they'd be ok to freeze? What do you think?

Cheers.

[heathfield]

Number 1 tip is to lay them out individually on a sheet of paper or a baking tray before putting them in the freezer. Once they're frozen, you can put them together in a bag, then back in the freezer. This method will stop them ending up as a solid frozen lump. For more, see Google for 'freezing strawberries'

[rinkins]

That's right - it's the same for raspberries too!

[China Doll]

Cool, thanks. I was just wondering if it was safe to do so more than anything. Ta :c)

[mccfluff]

well you have to take your chances with strawberries, you change the molecular stucture when you freeze then and when they defrost their is a chance they will morph into mutant ninja killer strawberries, but if you want to risk it.......

[lucca]

Strawberries don't freeze well - they contain a lot of water and are likely to come out mushy - ok to make them into a sauce then but not nice whole (or sort-of) with your breakfast. Have double helpings instead!

[China Doll]

Fluffy - Mutant ninja strawberries - I'm glad you speak my language!

And Lucca, it does rather look like I'll be over dosing on the blighters this week... Ho hum.

[jake-the-peg]

Strawberries tend to come out as mush.

As you say they have a lot of water and in a domestic freezer tend not to freeze fast enough. This means the ice crystals are large and rupture the cells hence - mush.

OK if you want to use them for jam or sauce

The freeze dried fruits you get are done in machines that are outside the budget of most people (Unless your name's Heston) or you might get good results with dry ice.

[China Doll]

I only have regular ice Jake but I'll check sainsburys tonight and see if they sell the other kind... ;0)

[camille79]

As other posters have said, strawberries turn to mush when frozen whole. However, if you puree them first (with a little icing sugar if you wish) then you can freeze in an icecube tray or bag and it will be fine as a topping for cereals, fruit salad or yoghurt when defrosted.