Don’t let your fresh summer berries go to waste! Learn how to freeze berries for later use using a few quick and simple tips.

How to Freeze Berries - homemadehome.com 2

I love summer season – and I’m one step away from being the kid with berry stains all over her face. Like a old broad with blue hair and bad lipstick. I can’t keep it up, it’s getting uncomfortable in my jeans here. And there is only so much a girl can down before you gotta do something with it. You know who else loves berries? Huck. He is named after a berry after all. And he loves blueberries. And cheese. And carbs, but that’s neither here nor there.

How to Freeze Berries - homemadehome.com

Sunday, my dad and bonus mom made a stop by the house after a morning full of berry picking to drop off some of their haul and Huck was more than eager to share in the spoils, bouncing into Bonus Mom’s face, and knocking a couple cups of berries onto the ground and into his face. Mission accomplished. But what had I done on Saturday? Just gone and bought a three pound clam shell of blueberries at the store for a price I couldn’t pass up. So now I have four pounds of berries and there ain’t no way my jeans can deal with the remnants of my Sunday burger slathered in sauce and topped with hash browns and a half vanilla shake and healthy, antioxidant filled berries to the top of it. Food logic fail.

After all those berries and burger in my belly, I’m not the only one writhing on the floor whale-esque – Huck is, too- but letting them go to waste is clearly not an option. So I gave the rest of the berries the big chill until I clear up my schedule to make some cobbler, crisps, smoothies, jams, syrups, pancakes, waffles, muffins, cupcakes, cakes, mocktails, cocktails, sorbets, ice creams, sorbet-linis, and well… uhhh eat them frozen. Cause I’m not above it.

This is probably the most simple how-to yet, and I’m okay with that. I have some whale-esque writhing to get back to with Huck. He’s a champ at berry overeating. I’m catching up.

Step One through Three:  Wash, dry and pick out all sticks, twigs, and sad looking berries out. Chuck ’em.

How to Freeze Berries - homemadehome.com

Step Four: Lay the berries out single layer onto a rimmed cookie sheet and freeze for 2 hours, or until frozen.

Here’s the story – As berries freeze, the cell walls will break down and if you just chuck them into a bag and then freeze them, they will lump together into a massive wad of frozen fruit ball and they’re ugly! Who wants a berry wad? No one, that’s who! This technique works great on all berries, from raspberries and blackberries, to blueberries and huckleberries.

Step Five: Once the berries are frozen, pour them into a ziploc bag or a click and seal plastic container.

Step Six : Make a smoothie, or a sorbet, or feed them to positively perfect, sappy eyed, allergy riddled, hungry, berry loving puppy. You’re a sucker and you know it.

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*Sidebar* Skin shouldn’t move that way…

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