How can you keep strawberries for the winter without cooking fresh
Strawberries have long become one of the most popular forest and garden berries. After collecting sweet aromatic fruits, many summer residents have the question of how to preserve strawberries for the winter without cooking. After all, you want to enjoy delicious berries not only in summer, but also with the onset of cold weather. There are many ways to preserve the flavor of strawberries throughout the winter.
Strawberry storage features
It is recommended to store fresh strawberries in the refrigerator after harvest. If you leave it in the room, it will mold or ferment in 1-2 days. But even in the refrigerator, the berry is not stored for a long time, especially if it is in a small container in several layers.
In order to keep the harvested strawberries fresh in the refrigerator for longer, they are harvested early in the morning or late in the evening, when it becomes cool outside.
If you plan to store the fruits for several days in the refrigerator, it is not recommended to wash and clean them. In this case, the berry will give juice and quickly begin to ferment. The fruits are washed immediately before freezing or heat treatment.
Requirements for the selection and preparation of berries
Any berries are suitable for freezing only if they are free of mold, insect marks and other damage. For processing, you can use small and not the sweetest berries, and eat large ones fresh.
Before boiling or freezing strawberries, it will be enough to sort out the fruits, rinse them thoroughly under water (there may be slugs, larvae and small bugs on the berries) and remove the stalk. Further actions depend on the chosen method of processing the crop.
Container preparation
For freezing crops, plastic bags or plastic containers are suitable. Shredded wild strawberries and strawberry jam are usually poured into glass jars and then stored in a cold place. In the refrigerator, berries are recommended to be stored in wide pots or cups. The wider the container, the longer the fruit will stay fresh.
You can store fruits in any container. These can be plastic cups, enamelled and aluminum dishes, glass jars. The material from which the container is made does not affect the storage time.
Storage methods
There are many ways to store strawberries harvested in the forest. The berries are frozen, dried and jam is made from them. The methods of storing berries will differ only according to the taste of the resulting product and the harvesting technology.
Cold storage
The shelf life in the refrigerator depends on the temperature. The lower it is, the longer the berry will stay fresh. At a temperature of +6 degrees, the shelf life is up to 4 days. At temperatures from 0 to +2, the fruits remain fresh for one week. For a longer shelf life, this method is not suitable. This is the maximum when the crop can remain fresh in the refrigerator without heat treatment. It is undesirable to store fruits in a plastic bag. Due to condensation, mold quickly appears on the berries.
Freezing
The easiest way to preserve the freshness of wild strawberries after harvesting from the site is to freeze them. Before freezing, the fruits are sorted out, moldy and damaged ones are thrown away. The rest of the fruits are thoroughly washed under running water in a colander. After that, it is necessary to drain the excess liquid.
The fruits are laid out on a towel or newspaper and left for 20-30 minutes. When the skins are dry, the strawberries are put in plastic bags and put into the freezer.
Freshly frozen berries are suitable for making pies, teas and compotes. Although they do not contain as many vitamins as fresh, of all the methods of storing berries with this method, it is possible to preserve maximum benefits for the body.
To prevent the berries from sticking together during freezing, they are laid out on a baking sheet separately, then sent to the freezer for a day. The next day, the strawberries are put into a bag and put back in the freezer.
How to grind strawberries with sugar for the winter without cooking
Another way to preserve the strawberry harvest for the whole winter is to grind it with sugar. If you do not cook the workpiece, then it will taste like fresh strawberries. Such a blank can be stored in jars in the cellar or put into the freezer:
- This method of harvesting will require fresh strawberries and sugar to taste.
- Rinse the berries thoroughly under water, remove the stalks and discard the moldy fruits. Let the water drain.
- Then twist the strawberries in a meat grinder or grind in a blender.
- Add sugar to taste (instead of sugar, it is better to use powdered sugar, so grains will not be felt during meals).
Transfer the resulting workpiece to the banks. Pounded wild strawberries with sugar can be stored in the freezer all winter, and it is better to eat them in the refrigerator as soon as possible. If the workpiece stands for a long time, it begins to ferment.
Dried strawberries
Fresh strawberries can be dried for the winter. There are two drying methods. The first is the natural way. The second is in the oven.
In the first drying method, the strawberries are sorted out and washed. Then they are laid out on a newspaper in a sunny place. The berries are turned over regularly. Drying in this way takes a little over a week.
In order not to spend a lot of time on the process of drying berries, use an oven. The fruits are also sorted out and washed. While they are drying from water, preheat the oven to 60 degrees. Put dry berries in one layer on a baking sheet and put in the oven. It is best to spread out parchment paper first.
Leave the berries in the oven for several hours, turning and stirring regularly. Drying in this way takes up to 6 hours, so it is not recommended to plan anything for this day. You will have to constantly be near the stove so that the strawberries do not dry out.
The dried fruits retain their aroma, which is especially strongly revealed when brewing tea with strawberries.
Evacuation
Another method to keep strawberries fresh after harvest is to vacuum freeze them. For this, the fruits are sorted out, washed in water and the stalk is removed.
To evacuate the fruit, you will need a special device - a vacuum cleaner. This is a small machine with which air is pumped out of the package. Also, for storage in this way, you will have to buy special packaging.
The fruits are placed in a package, excess air is pumped out using a vacuum apparatus. Then immediately put the bag in the freezer.
The advantage of this storage method is that no foreign odor penetrates into the package, and more space remains in the freezer. In addition, odors from frozen packages do not penetrate into the refrigerator either.
Jam
The most common way to harvest strawberries for the winter is to make jam from them. And for an unusual taste, you can add other ingredients.
To cook strawberry jam you will need:
- 100 ml of vodka;
- 1 kg of strawberries;
- 1 kg of sugar;
- juice of one lemon.
Preparation:
- Rinse the fruits thoroughly under cool water.
- Transfer to a saucepan, add sugar and vodka.
- Cook until boiling, after boiling, cook for another 7-9 minutes.
- Remove from heat, leave overnight.
- The next day, add lemon juice to the preparation and cook again for 10 minutes over medium heat.
When the jam is ready, put it in jars and twist. Remove conservation to the cellar.
Strawberry jam is cooked along with other ingredients that complement its flavor. For example, with mint.
Ingredients for the jam:
- 1 kg of strawberries;
- 3 sprigs of fresh mint;
- 1 kg sugar;
- lemon juice.
Making jam:
- Rinse the fruit and separate the stalk.
- Transfer the strawberries to a saucepan, cover with sugar, leave for several hours to let the fruit juice.
- Rinse the lemon thoroughly, grate the zest on a fine grater and squeeze out all the juice.
- Put a saucepan with fruits over medium heat, bring to a boil.
- As soon as the jam boils, add the zest and lemon juice.
- Stir constantly with a wooden spoon and cook for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, add mint leaves without twigs, stir and keep on fire for another 5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the stove, wait until the jam has cooled.
- Then boil it again for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and leave until next day.
- The next day, boil the jam for another 10 minutes.
Pour the finished jam into sterilized jars and twist. Wait until they cool down and lower them into the basement. Such jam can not only be eaten, but also used for making homemade cakes.
