Kitchen Tip: Saving Berries

Maru and I love strawberries. I actually really like almost all berries, but she is particularly partial to a classic strawberry. The main way we consume them is in smoothies, so we use them up fast. We're not in easy reach of a U-pick farm here in the city, and the 1lb boxes of strawberries can often cost as much as $5 a pop, but sometimes you get lucky and the corner grocery store wants to liquidate boxes of berries that are a little overripe. This happened to me the other day when I found the 1lb boxes for 89 cents each! So I bought 12. Yes, 12 pounds of strawberries. It was all that would fit in my market bag. What can you do with 12 pounds of berries for two people? Why, freeze them for later of course!

Frozen berries are perfect for smoothies, and they are also great for making quick little fruit toppings and compotes. Throw a couple cups worth in a sauce pan with a couple tablespoons of sugar and cook them down, and there you have it! A yummy topping for pancakes, waffles, french toast, crepes, strawberry shortcake, etc.

Here is the process we follow to get our berries in the freezer:

1. Clean them really well.

2. For strawberries, cut off the end.

3. Place the berries in an even layer on a cookie sheet. Strawberries can be set up on their flat end.

4. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer and let them freeze for 1-2 hours.

5. Label a ziploc bag with the date. Break the berries off of the cookie sheet and bag them, then return to the freezer until desired. They will keep really well for a couple of months and reasonably well for a couple months beyond that. Over time, they just start to lose a little flavor.

By freezing them on the cookie sheet first, you prevent them from freezing into one big lump. You'll actually have separate berries in the bag.

Here is our traditional morning smoothie recipe. This makes two large glasses:

2 bananas

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 cup yogurt

Juice of one orange

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup water (just to make it more drinkable)

Throw everything in a blender and puree. Mmmmm.