How to Freeze Berries

Berry picking season is in full swing!  The summer of 2016 has been called a Blackberry Summer because of the cooler temperatures in the late spring.  This makes for favorable temperatures and conditions for the wild berries to flower.  I love being frugal and exercising so walking the paths around our property to pick free food is a win-win for me.  My husband ensures me that our property mortgage proves that the food isn’t free but I choose to ignore him and go about my berry picking way.  The season started off with black raspberries but this post shows my wild blackberries.  Blackberries are bigger than raspberries and a little later in the summer.  They are more tart but usually more plentiful.  If you are freezing raspberries, follow the same guidelines except decrease your freezing time from 2 hours to 1 hours.

I had so many berries this year that I started putting fresh berries in my morning oatmeal.  This was so good I decided to freeze berries so I could enjoy them over the winter.

After picking berries, first remove any berry stems, leaves and bugs from your berries.  Then gently pour them into a colander and spray the berries down with water.  Use your hand to move the berries around making sure you get all of the berries sprayed.

Next place your berries on a large jelly roll pan.  Gently shake the pan so the berries lay directly on the metal pan and not on top of each other.  This step will allow you to freeze your berries individually instead in one big clump.  Since your berries will be frozen individually you can easily scoop out what you need for your oatmeal, smoothies, or snacks without hammering away at the whole bag.

Place the uncovered tray in the freezer for about 2 hours.  If you have really large berries or tightly packed berries you may need to freeze them longer.  You will know they are ready because each berry will be completely frosted and hard.  Juicy wet berries mean they need to stay in the freezer longer.

When your berries are frozen pull the tray out of the freezer using a hot pad.  The pan is really cold and you don’t want to get frost bite!  Then use a metal spatula to scrap the berries off of the pan.  Once they are loose, pour them into a labeled freezer bag and stick them back in your freezer for you to enjoy at a later date.