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The Right Way to Freeze Berries

We went blueberry picking a couple of weeks ago. Well, hubby and I went blueberry picking. It would be more accurate to say that the girls went blueberry eating! Before we headed home, we picked up a couple of extra flats of berries specifically to freeze for later in the season.

I love keeping a big bag of frozen berries in my deep freeze year round. Frozen berries are awesome for making smoothies, so convenient to defrost whenever you need some for baking, and perfect for popping like little frozen candies straight out of the bag. So good on a hot summer day!

There’s a right way and a wrong way to freeze them though!

DON’T throw all your berries in a freezer bag and stick it in the freezer. That’s the wrong way. You’ll end up with a big frozen block of berries.

Instead, spread your berries out in a single layer on cookie sheets. Prepare a flat spot beforehand (a cardboard box works well for this) and place the cookie sheet carefully in your freezer. You can either wash your berries before freezing or wash them after defrosting. Our berries came from a no spray farm so I’m not that picky.

IMPORTANT: If you decide to wash them first, make sure they’re 100% completely dry before freezing.

After our last trip to the blueberry farm, I ended up using every single cookie sheet I had, and doubling up on a few with a sheet of parchment paper between the layers.

Once your berries are frozen solid, transfer them into a large freezer bag for storage. With just this one extra step, you’ll have perfectly frozen individual berries that you can measure out as needed. This works great for any type of berry: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cranberries, etc.

Finally, don’t forget to label each bag with the date. Your frozen berries should be good for up to a year, just in time to pick next year’s harvest!

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7 Comments

  • you certainly have to make sure the berries are completely dry before freezing. I have several large chunks of frozen berries! Oh still good for smoothies, but like the idea of freezing on tray so that little ones have a nice treat.

  • Wow! Last summer I went strawberry picking and tried to freeze my berries! When I went to defrost them they were a big strawberry mess! Now I know where I went wrong! Thanks so much for sharing this tip! I am totally going to do this with my fresh blackberries! Oh and I am dropping in from Munching Monday! So happy that I click your link! Pinned it!
    Gina Marie from Always Savory

  • Bought blueberries today, so glad I read your article or I would of had a berry mess when in thawing. Thanks for the great advice.