Is it possible to freeze pitted cherries. How to freeze pitted cherries for the winter at home

Berries are like a snowball, stick together and wrinkle, and thaw, "cry" with scarlet tears? How to freeze cherries correctly - so that they do not become covered with a crust of ice and frost, do not lose juice, and retain their shape and taste.

You will need:

• Cherry
• plastic containers or bags

1. The best berries are frozen. Overripe, with a wormhole, crumpled are not considered the best - they are discarded immediately. Weakly colored ones are also discarded - they will add acid to the overall taste.

2. The best freezing is dry. The rule is true for all berries, and especially for cherries with their smooth surface. The main enemy of dry quick freezing, which is called "shock", is moisture: it will become ice that fetters delicate fruits. Thanks to barely noticeable droplets, the berries are covered with frost, thorny frost and small pieces of ice.

There is only one way out: after washing, dry the fruits thoroughly by sprinkling them in a thin layer on a paper towel. It is important to shake the cherry "scatter" often so that the drops that roll off the smooth sides of the cherry are absorbed into the paper.

3. Freeze in container. It is convenient to use a plastic one specially designed for storing berries, with a corrugated surface and a sealed lid. The optimal volume is from 200 ml to 0.5 l. If there are no containers, any plastic container stocked up will come to the rescue. Capacity requirement - small volume, tight lid, clean surface.

If there are no containers, trust the plastic bags - they will not let you down. The only drawback is that the bags will have to be tied when filling and untied when used, so it is advisable to use dense, with a collapsing Zip-Lock fastener.

It is simple to freeze cherries in a bag: expel air, imitating vacuum packaging, and tie tightly.

In order for the berries to freeze quickly, without becoming covered with frost and not crumpled, it is important to lay them out in a thin layer. The bundles are laid out in the chamber at a distance from each other. Once frozen, they can be folded compactly.

Important: do not freeze the cherries open: after drying, the skin remains sufficiently moist, and the evaporation surface is relatively large. That is why frozen cherries are covered with a frost coat and sharp pieces of ice.

4. The main thing is the freezing temperature. For fast, i.e. shock, possible only in the presence of a freezer, the optimum temperature will be from -23 ... -35 ° С and up to -40 ° С. The camera is set to a fast freeze mode - most often it is designated as Super freeze or Quick freeze, then they switch to the standard storage mode. As for conventional refrigerators, their capabilities start at -18 ° C and end at -22 ... -30 ° C. This temperature is sufficient for high-quality quick freezing.

In old-style refrigerators with a lower temperature in the freezer compartment, difficulties are possible: with slow freezing, cherries can become covered with frost, they can stick together into a conglomerate of ice and scarlet liquid. Such a product can be stored for no more than 1-2 months and can only be used in baked goods. Such berries are not suitable for use without heat treatment, for decorating desserts.

5. How to defrost without loss. Getting into the heat, the berries are instantly covered with frost, then "let the juice". So that there is no condensation turning into water droplets in front of our eyes, so as not to drain the precious liquid in which all the taste and aroma is concentrated, the cherries are thawed slowly. First, you should put the container with berries in a regular refrigerator for 2-2.5 hours - certainly in the lower compartment, then - until completely defrosted in a cool place.

However, it is not always advisable to defrost the gifts of summer. So, for baking, for pies and rolls, they are used frozen, carefully sprinkled with starch. They do not wait for defrosting when cooking fruit drinks, compotes - they simply dip the berries into boiling water.

Knowing these simple nuances and tricks, you can freeze cherries that are ideal for desserts and baking, decorating pies, cupcakes - frozen correctly, the berries will retain not only their shape, but also their benefits, and will not lose their real cherry aroma and taste.

Best regards, Svetlana.
recipe and author's photo

A beautiful cherry has ripened in our gardens, so today's conversation will focus on the health benefits of cherries and how to properly freeze cherries for the winter so that you can enjoy the taste and aroma of this wonderful berry in the cold season.

Frozen berries have their advantages over jam, as they retain all their vitamins and useful properties, as well as a fresh aroma that will delight you with a piece of summer on cold winter evenings.

Dishes prepared with the addition of frozen cherries will please all lovers of this berry.

Cherry berries useful properties

Traditional healers noted that this berry perfectly quenches thirst, increases appetite and has wonderful medicinal properties for human health.

I suggest that you familiarize yourself with them in more detail:

• The beneficial properties of cherries are expressed in anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antipyretic effects on the body. Eating cherry juice or berries prevents harmful bacteria from multiplying in infectious diseases;
• The high content of coumarins in cherries helps the berries prevent the formation of cholesterol plaques on the walls of blood vessels;
• For people with capillary and vascular problems, it is recommended to eat cherries, as these berries strengthen the human circulatory system well;
• Cherry juice and berries contain a lot of vitamins C, B1, B6, vitamin PP, as well as a lot of iron, magnesium, copper, pectin, citric, malic and ellagic acids. Therefore, cherry juice is useful for strengthening the immune system, with anemia and other diseases of the circulatory system. Healers recommend drinking cherry juice for diabetes and colds of the respiratory tract;
• Cherry is useful for colds and coughs, as it destroys pathogenic microbes, bacteria and has an expectorant effect;
• Cherry improves the functioning of the digestive tract, stimulates the activity of the pancreas, gallbladder;
• The use of cherries prevents the development of cardiovascular and oncological diseases;
• Cherries contain anticyanides, substances that have an antiseptic effect. Due to their content, cherries and cherry juice can kill E. coli and dysentery bacteria.

Not only berries are beneficial, medicines are made from cherry resin that treat the stomach, and a decoction of cherry tree leaves helps with intestinal atony and colitis.

Note!

Cherry kernel kernels are poisonous - you can't eat them!

Frozen cherry

To preserve all the beneficial properties and vitamins of this wonderful berry, there is a simple and affordable way for everyone - freezing for the winter. Cherries deservedly hold the lead among the most popular berries for freezing, since they are in no way inferior to fresh ones in taste, and at the same time retain all their vitamins.

It is convenient to use frozen berries for cooking various dishes, making compotes, filling for pies and simply eating without any additives.

How to properly freeze cherries for the winter

You can freeze berries with or without pits, but you should pay attention to the fact that cherries with pits retain more juice. In order for the freezing to pass successfully, it is necessary to follow some simple and at the same time important rules:

1. The time between picking berries and freezing should be minimal, in this case all vitamins and nutrients are preserved.
2. We choose ripe, but not overripe, without damage berries. Wash the cherries in cool water and dry them.
3. Divide the berries into bags and put the bags in the freezer. The most optimal temperature for freezing cherries is in the range from minus 18 to minus 23 degrees. At this temperature, the shelf life can be from 8 to 12 months, practically until the new season.
4. It is recommended to freeze cherries in small portions, about 500 grams each. It is convenient to use plastic containers with lids for freezing.
5. If you use regular bags, it is better to first freeze the berries on a tray, spread them out in an even layer, and then fold them in portions, so each cherry will retain its shape.
6. The container in which you freeze the berries must be well packed, since the cherries can absorb foreign odors.

Frozen cherries in sugar syrup

I suggest another good way to freeze berries with sugar. To prepare sugar syrup, you need to take: one and a half kilograms of sugar per liter of water.

1. Pour water into a saucepan and add sugar, heat over a fire so that the sugar is completely dissolved, then the syrup must be cooled.
2. Wash the cherries, remove the seeds and put them in containers, fill them with cold sugar syrup and leave for two hours. During this time, the berries are well saturated with sugar.
3. We lay out the cherries in containers and pour the syrup to the brim. Alternatively, you can freeze the cherries by sprinkling them with sugar.

Note!

If you have frozen pitted cherries, they must be eaten within one year. The fact is that the seeds of cherries contain amygdalin, this substance has the property that during long-term storage it breaks down and releases a very strong poison - hydrocyanic acid.

You need to defrost the berries gradually, taking the container out of the freezer and placing it in the refrigerator.

It would seem that what could be easier than freezing berries. I put it in the storage room and that's it.

But no, in order for the frozen cherry to turn out whole and tidy, the following recommendations must be followed:

• it is necessary to freeze freshly picked fruits, the longer they are stored, the less useful they are;
• do not use damaged or overripe berries;
• do not freeze wet berries, they stick together and lose their "marketable" appearance;
• freezing should be carried out in portions;
• for storage it is necessary to use separate containers so that when taking the required amount not to damage the cherries located nearby.

How to freeze pitted cherries for the winter at home

fresh cherry

Having collected fresh fruits, they must be sorted out in order to remove damaged or rotten ones, as well as to clean them of leaves and stalks. Rinse under running water, leave in a colander to drain excess water.

Spread the berries on a paper towel or cloth kitchen napkin to finally get rid of unnecessary moisture.

Special plastic containers are best suited for freezing cherries in the refrigerator. If there is not enough space in the freezer, you can also use regular bags for storing ice cubes. You need to divide the berries in portions (depending on how much you need to make compote, jelly, dumplings, etc.) and send them to the freezer.

Now you can delight your family in winter and surprise guests with aromatic and truly summer cherry dishes.

We hope you find the tips useful.

The benefits of cherries

Why freeze cherries when you can buy them at the supermarket? Of course, for those who do not have storage conditions, this is the only option, not counting, of course, conservation. But if you are lucky and there is a freezer at home, or the refrigerator has enough space to freeze, it is better to prepare the berries yourself. It is not known in what conditions the sold cherry was grown, how it was processed, how it was stored, transported, etc. We will not say anything about the price at all. In winter, frozen cherries are worth their weight in gold, and you will have such a treasure in the refrigerator.

What a delicious compote is obtained from it, and if you add berries to the filling for dumplings or pies, the smell of summer will directly settle in the house.

You can freeze cherries with or without a bone, which we did. In most cases, modern housewives prefer the second option. It is good to pull out the bones if there is a special harvester, but there is always not enough time to do it manually.

The most valuable substance in cherries is coumarin, which affects blood clotting, but no less valuable are magnesium, zinc, iron, etc. Cherries have the ability to reduce temperature and effectively fight viruses, so by brewing tea in winter using frozen berries, you can give a decent rebuff to flu and colds.

Of all the methods of harvesting berries for the winter, freezing is the most profitable in terms of saving time, as well as preserving the taste and a set of vitamins. To freeze fresh berries and surprise loved ones with delicious vitamin desserts or pastries with a summer taste almost all year round, almost every housewife has the opportunity today. In this article, we will tell you how to freeze cherries for the winter so that they retain their beneficial substances to the maximum and their unique, bright summer taste. It should be noted right away that frozen cherries are no worse than fresh ones: you can cook the same dishes with them as with recently picked or purchased berries. However, this is true only for home-frozen cherries, because store counterparts are often not of good quality. Therefore, it will be important for every housewife to know how to freeze cherries for pies, cakes, compotes, jelly, fruit drinks and other tasty useful things.

From this blank, you can prepare a lot of wonderful dishes and drinks, for example:
WidgetError: Widget path not specified

How to properly freeze cherries at home

The lower the temperature when freezing cherries, like any other berry, the more nutrients remain in the product. In industrial conditions, freezing occurs almost instantly, since the berries are exposed to temperatures ranging from 25 to 35 degrees below zero. At home, of course, it is almost impossible to create such a temperature regime. However, do not despair, because cherries frozen in the freezer of an ordinary refrigerator also remain very tasty and healthy. When buying or collecting cherries in your own garden, remember that you should not hesitate with the freezing procedure, because the less time passes from the moment of collection to the direct freezing of the berries, the more useful and tasty the cherries will remain. It is best to freeze cherries in plastic containers or bags made of food grade polyethylene in small volumes, sufficient for preparing 1 serving of a dish, because thawed cherries are not stored in the refrigerator for a long time, and they cannot be re-frozen. Whether or not to wash the cherries before freezing is a private matter for every housewife, but if you still decide to wash the berries, then they must be dried later, otherwise, when frozen, they will firmly "stick" to each other.

Ways to freeze cherries at home

There are not so many ways to freeze cherries, but each has its own characteristics and advantages. Below we describe the most common ways to freeze cherries for the winter at home.

With or without a bone?

Cherries with pits retain more juice and are perfect for making stewed fruit, jelly, jelly, etc. To prepare other frozen cherries with pits, you will need to remove the pits after completely defrosting the berries. While frozen pitted cherries can be immediately put into the filling of pies, pies and dumplings without defrosting. Before freezing pitted or pitted cherries, think about what you are going to cook from the berries and decide how many cherries of one kind or another to prepare.

Only ripe, not deformed or spoiled cherries are suitable for freezing. They must be carefully sorted out, the stalks must be removed, rinsed and dried well. If you decide to freeze cherries with pits, the berries prepared in this way should be laid out in one row and placed in the freezer. Then put in a container for storage and return to the freezer. Plastic containers or bags can be used as storage containers, but it is important that they are hermetically sealed, otherwise cherries can absorb foreign odors from the refrigerator, which, of course, will affect their taste.

By the way, it is not recommended to immediately place cherries in containers and freeze them in this form, since the berries will freeze to each other and turn into a single lump, and when defrosting they are deformed. Of course, you can use them for cooking, but you won't be able to decorate desserts with such cherries, alas.

How to freeze pitted cherries at home? To do this, the sorted, clean and dried berries must be removed from the seeds, put in a colander to completely drain the juice, and dry again. Then freeze the cherries as described above.

Pitted cherries with sugar are, one might say, a completely ready-made filling for baking or a semi-finished product for compote (jelly). To cook something delicious with these cherries, you just need to take them out of the freezer and defrost them. So how to freeze pitted cherries with sugar? It turns out to be very simple: freeze the berries in a dry, pitted manner and put them in a container, alternating with granulated sugar in layers. Or, spreading the prepared cherries in one row on a board or a sheet of plastic, immediately sprinkle them with sugar and freeze them in this form, and then transfer them to a container for storage.

If you don't know how to freeze cherries for dumplings, then this method may well suit you. The syrup is made from sugar and water in a ratio of 1.5 to 1. Add granulated sugar to a saucepan with cold water and put on medium heat. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, then reduce the heat slightly and boil the syrup to the desired thickness. Remove the syrup from heat and cool completely. Wash the cherries, sort them out and remove the seeds from them. Fill the containers with prepared berries by about 2/3 and pour sugar syrup, but not to the very edges, otherwise the container may deform when frozen. Leave the cherries in the syrup to stand at room temperature for several hours, then close the lids tightly and send them to freeze.

How to defrost cherries?

So, we have already figured out how to freeze cherries for the winter, now let's learn how to defrost them correctly. Unlike freezing, which is recommended to be done abruptly, it is better to defrost cherries gradually. It is necessary to remove the container with cherries from the freezer and put it for a couple of hours (preferably overnight) in the main compartment of the refrigerator. Then defrost the thawed berry at room temperature.

Frozen cherries can be used to prepare a host of sophisticated and simple home-style delicious dishes, for example,

To use them in winter as an additional source of vitamins. It is rightfully considered the most suitable for long-term storage, it contains a large amount of vitamins, it perfectly retains its taste and useful properties even after long-term storage in the freezer. Let's try to figure out how to freeze correctly, how much to store and how best to use it.

Are the beneficial properties preserved

Freezing of berries in recent years has confidently pushed traditional canning in the form or compotes from the front of winter. This method is popular because it not only takes less time, but also allows you to preserve maximum nutrients in frozen foods... Many are interested in how many specific nutrients are stored when frozen. For comparison, if stored at room temperature, then per day it will lose up to 10% of the ascorbic acid contained in it, and when frozen, this will happen only six months after storage. Thus, freezing berries will preserve about 100% of vitamins in the first six months of storage and up to 90% in the following.

Rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains fructose, glucose, vitamins C, E, B, various organic acids, in particular folic acid, which is useful for expectant mothers.

Eating food brings undeniable benefits to the body. It is useful for the hematopoietic system due to the pectin it contains, ascorbic acid strengthens the walls of blood vessels, cleanses them of cholesterol plaques. It has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, is very useful for hypertensive patients with its ability to lower blood pressure.

Did you know? In terms of properties and action, 20 cherries are equivalent to 1 aspirin tablet.

Frozen cherries are considered a dietary, low-calorie product. Only 46 calories per 100 grams of frozen food, and what a benefit! Its high carbohydrate content makes it a great snack and energy boost.
Of course, like any product, cherries are not good for everyone. It can harm people with gastritis or stomach ulcers due to its acidic juice. Also, it is not recommended to use it for allergy sufferers, since the substances contained in it, which give the fruit a red color, can cause food allergies.

Important! Cherry pits should not be eaten, as the substances they contain are poisonous and can cause severe poisoning!

Nevertheless, the benefits of frozen cherries clearly outweigh the harm, and in terms of their qualities, they are ideal for homemade preparations. Freezing is the best way to store it, while the beneficial substances, appearance and taste are preserved.

Cherry preparation

In order for cherries to delight you in winter with excellent taste and look beautiful when preparing dishes, you must carefully prepare them for freezing. Let's see how to do it correctly.
First of all, you need to decide what the berries will be stored in. You can choose from different options - regular plastic bags, special bags with a clip for freezing, plastic containers. More often, special bags are used, they take up less space than containers, and are more convenient than simple bags, since the berries are stored in one layer.

The berries must be carefully sorted out, damaged or too soft, removed, the stalks and leaves must be removed. After that, the cherries are washed several times, first with hands, soaking in a container with water, then under running water, placing in a colander. The washed berries are laid out on paper towels to dry.

Freezing methods

Today, there are many freezing recipes that will allow you to preserve the maximum benefit in berries, let's take a look at them.

With bones

In order for cherries to retain the maximum amount of vitamins, it is best to freeze them with seeds, we will consider how to do this correctly. This is perhaps the easiest and fastest way. In addition, it has an undeniable advantage. Berries frozen for the winter in this way retain a large amount of juice, and with it, useful substances.

Important! Cherries with seeds are stored for no more than a year, because with longer storage, hydrocyanic acid, harmful to health, begins to be released from the seeds.

Proper freezing of pitted cherries:

1. We prepare the berries, sort them out, wash them thoroughly under running water, put them on a towel to dry.
2. As soon as the berries are completely dry, we put them in one layer in any container or just on the bottom of the freezer and freeze for about 5 hours. This is the stage of preliminary freezing, it will maximize the preservation of the juice and usefulness of the berries and prevent damage during storage.
3. After 5 hours, lay out the frozen cherries in pre-prepared bags or containers, close them tightly and put them in the freezer. The less air there is in the container, the better the product will be preserved.

Important! It is better not to freeze many packages at once, if the freezer does not cope, then the berries will not survive well.

Seedless

Pitted freezing cherries are ideal if you plan to use them for making compotes, pies, and dumplings.

The process differs little from the usual freezing of whole berries.

1. We dry the washed berries, after which we squeeze out the seeds using a special device or an ordinary safety pin.
2. We let the excess juice drain, for which we leave the berries for a while in a colander.
3. Carefully lay out the berries in one layer and leave them in the freezer to pre-freeze.
4. We put the pre-frozen cherries in prepared containers or bags and put them in the freezer for storage.

In sugar syrup

One of the original freezing recipes that sweet tooth will definitely like is cherries frozen in sugar syrup.

1. First you need to cook the sugar syrup. To do this, pour 1 liter of water into a saucepan and gradually add 1.5 kg of sugar, stirring, bring the syrup to a thickener over low heat and leave to cool.
2. We put the prepared berries in freezing containers, filling them up to half, then fill them with cooled sugar syrup, leave them for a couple of hours at room temperature.
3. We close the containers with reliable lids and put them in the freezer.

Rubbed with sugar

Another unusual way of harvesting is to freeze berries, grated with sugar... Such a delicacy is also called raw jam, only, unlike classic jam, it does not require the addition of preservatives and retains a maximum of useful substances.

1. Peel the prepared berry, mince it, mix with sugar in a 1: 1 ratio.
2. Pour the mixture into containers, cover and store in the freezer.

Did you know? Experienced housewives advise pouring the cherry-sugar mixture into small plastic bottles, from which it is very convenient to squeeze out the required amount of jam without using a spoon.

How long is it stored

Frozen fruits are usually stored from season to season, i.e. 1 year. This rule also applies to the storage of frozen cherries. If you freeze it correctly, then even after a year, the berries will still remain edible, but the level of vitamins in them will significantly decrease, and they simply will no longer be useful.