How to properly freeze gooseberries for the winter in the freezer: the best ways

Gooseberry contains vitamins, minerals, fruit acids, essential oils. Berries strengthen the immune system, protect against colds, and prevent the negative effects of free radicals on the body. Gooseberry lovers are less likely to suffer from such dangerous diseases as diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, pathology of the heart and blood vessels.

If fresh gooseberries are available in the summer, then in the cold season it is worth eating them frozen. In order to preserve the taste and substances valuable for the body, it is important to know how to properly freeze gooseberries for the winter in the freezer at home. If stored improperly, the product becomes not only useless, but can also harm health.

Is it possible to freeze gooseberries

The best way to preserve gooseberries for the winter is to freeze them in the freezer. Berries are ideal for freezing, as they contain pectin, which maintains the tension of the membranes and prevents the penetration of water into plant cells.

More than 1000 varieties of gooseberries have been developed, differing in taste, size, color of berries, chemical composition, purpose, and fruiting. All these properties must be taken into account when choosing a product for harvesting for the winter. The most suitable for freezing varieties with a dense skin and sweet pulp: Jubilee, Date, Spring, Serenade, Kolobok, Kazachok, White nights, Harlequin, Aristocrat.

The advantages and disadvantages of frozen gooseberries are listed in the table.

Selection and preparation of berries

For consumption, ideally, gooseberries of their own harvest or grown in guaranteed safe conditions without pesticides are used. When buying beautiful fruits in the market, in a store or a supermarket, you cannot be sure of their quality. When they are grown, chemicals are often used to stimulate growth, fertilizers, and remedies that are toxic to the human body.

Freezing berries are harvested when they are as ripe as possible and contain the most vitamins and minerals, that is, in June - August. The ripening period depends on the variety, climatic and weather conditions.

When harvesting or purchasing a product on the market, it is important to evaluate the quality of the gooseberry, paying attention to its appearance, smell, and taste. Good berries, moderately elastic to the touch, of the same size. If the fruits are too hard, then they have not reached maturity, soft ones are already overripe.The presence of black blotches on the gooseberry is allowed - this is a sign of maturity inherent in some varieties. Berries spoiled by pests are not suitable for consumption and long-term storage.

Council. It is better to harvest early in the morning in sunny weather. The fruits must be dry, otherwise they will quickly deteriorate.

The next step is to prepare the gooseberries for freezing for the winter:

1. Rinse the berries until clear water, remove leaves, foreign debris, rotten, spoiled, too soft and green fruits.
2. Put the gooseberries in a colander, drain off excess water. Then transfer to a paper towel or cotton cloth so that it absorbs all moisture.

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How to freeze gooseberries for the winter in the freezer at home: ways

Harvesting gooseberries for the winter at home takes place in different ways. Depending on taste preferences and purpose, the berries are frozen whole, in the form of puree, in syrup or sugar. If the recipe contains other products, such as sugar, the calorie content of the workpiece increases.

For storage in the freezer, use plastic sealed containers or special bags. The latter are convenient in that you can write the date and time of the preparation on them.

Council. If you opted for food containers, select wide containers with low sides to freeze the berries faster and more evenly.

Whole berries

This is the easiest and fastest way. Suitable for fruits with a thin skin, it allows you to preserve the integrity of the berries, taste and useful properties.

How to freeze with whole berries:

1. Rinse the fruits with running water, sort out, remove spoiled, rotten, foreign debris.
2. Put the gooseberries in a sieve to drain the water, then transfer to a paper towel to dry.
3. Dry berries in one layer and spread loosely on a shallow platform (e.g. food board or tray). Send it to the freezer for 6-8 hours.
4. Take out the frozen berries, stand for a few minutes at room temperature, put in a prepared container. Store in a freezer.

Puree

Gooseberries in this form are used for the preparation of compotes, desserts, jelly, drinks.

Recipe:

1. Grind clean and dry berries with a blender, meat grinder or wooden crush.
2. Add granulated sugar to the resulting gruel at the rate of 300-500 g per 1 kg of gooseberries. The amount of sugar can be adjusted depending on the berry variety and taste preferences. Mix everything.
3. Put the mixture in prepared plastic containers for storing food. Leave in the refrigerator for a day, then move to the freezer.

In syrup

According to this recipe, you can freeze not only whole and elastic fruits, but also soft, overripe ones, which reduces the amount of waste.

How to freeze gooseberries for the winter in syrup:

1. Prepare the berries: sort out, remove spoiled, foreign debris, rinse and dry.
2. Prepare the syrup: add sugar to the water, boil. After boiling, cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool down.
3. Pack the gooseberries into food containers and cover with chilled syrup. Mix gently. Send to freezer for storage.

In sugar

For 1 kg of gooseberries, you need 300 g of sugar. For sour varieties, the amount of granulated sugar can be increased to 400-500 g.

Recipe:

1. Arrange clean and dry gooseberries in containers for storing food, sprinkle with sugar on top, mix gently.
2. Next, the container is immediately sent to the freezer or pre-refrigerated so that the sugar is saturated with juice, and then rearranged into the freezer for further storage.

Storage periods

How many gooseberries are stored in the freezer depends on the temperature regime.If the freezing temperature is about −18 ° C, the shelf life is six months. With low-temperature storage, you can get a huge margin of time and store berries for 24 months.

Council. If the refrigerator works intermittently or is unable to maintain a constant temperature, it is better not to risk it and keep it frozen for no more than 3 months. The product must never be re-frozen.

How to properly defrost gooseberries

Do not defrost gooseberries at room temperature or in a microwave oven, as under such conditions there is a high probability that the berries will turn into a tasteless gruel.

Defrosting is best done in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. The process is long, takes at least 8-10 hours, but it is the most optimal in terms of health safety and preservation of the useful and taste qualities of gooseberries. If you need to defrost the berries as soon as possible, you can fill them with warm water and use them immediately for cooking.

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Conclusion

Freezing gooseberries for the winter is an easy and affordable way to preserve the product. This makes it possible not only to enjoy the berries all year round, but also to take care of your health, since the fruits are rich in vitamins, minerals, organic acids, which are important for maintaining the normal functioning of organs and systems.

In winter, the body experiences a deficiency of micro- and macroelements, which in the future can cause painful conditions. To prevent this, gooseberries and other summer berries are harvested for the winter.