Strawberries in January

1/09/10 : Frozen Strawberries

For my birthday supper, Annemarie baked a pound cake and served our frozen strawberries, our canned peaches, and whipped topping with it. I froze three quarts of strawberries for the first time last year in June so that is how they made it to my plate. So how did they taste? They were fantastic! They had very strong strawberry flavor and their texture held up considerably well. I thought they would turn out to be mushy, so I was very happy to find that they went through the freezing process with flying colors.

I used two methods to freeze them, the sugar pack method and the syrup pack method. We only tried the sugar packed so far so I will have to update this post later once we try out the ones packed with syrup.

For those who are interested in freezing strawberries, here is the recipe I used:

Freezing Strawberries - Sugar Pack Method
(Recipe Found in Ball Blue Book of Preserving, copyright 2005)

Select fully-ripe, firm strawberries with a deep-red color. Discard immature and defective fruit. Wash strawberries; drain. Remove caps. Slice berries lengthwise in halves or thirds. Mix 1 part sugar to 6 parts strawberries. Allow to stand until sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. Gently stir. Pack strawberries and syrup into can-or-freeze jars or plastic boxes, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal, label and freeze.

Freezing Strawberries - Syrup Pack Method

Prepare a heavy syrup by combing 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved.

Wash strawberries, remove caps, and slice strawberries or leave them whole. Pack strawberries into can-or-freeze jars or plastic freezer boxes. Ladle syrup over berries, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal, label and freeze.