Notes on freezing early fruits

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Historic, archived document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

HOMBMAKERS 1 CHAT MONDAY, MAY 5, 1941

(FOR BROADCAST USE ONLY)

SUBJECT: "NOTES ON FREEZING EARLY FRUITS. 11 Information from the Office
of Experiment Stations, U..S.D.A.

Every year more farm families are putting up home-raised food "by
freezing. At first farmers used frozen storage mostly for meat. But
nowadays many different garden products are joining the "big freeze.
Scientists of the Federal Department of Agriculture and the various State
experiment stations have studied freezing to learn exactly how to get the
finest frozen products. Today you can write your State experiment station
or college to learn which varieties grown in your locality are "best for
freezing. Many States now have free "bulletins to tell you not only about
varieties, hut also about preparing products for freezing, freezing them,
and using them after freezing. Freezing is the most modem way to pre-
serve food. The scientists are still learning things about it. So
you need to keep in touch with them in order to he up-to-date on freezing
methods.

Some of the first garden products in the spring are best for
freezing. Green peas, asparagus, and strawberries are among the most
popular frozen products.

Today let's consider strawberries , since more strawberries are
frozen than any other fruit, and since rules for freezing strawberries
are right for many other fruits.

Pick your berries when they're at just the right stage for eating
out of hand. That is the rule for all fruits for freezing, according to

the New York Station. You know when a strawberry is ideal for eating with
cream and sugar. It's ripe and red all over; it's tender "but firm and
sound. That's when it's best for freezing. New York scientists report
that unripe fruit, or fruit not ripe all over, may taste hitter after
freezing, or may he soft and hard in spots. On the other hand, fruit
that is too ripe won't do either. The freezing process softens it some-
what. If the fruit is soft to begin with, it will be mushy and soupy
after freezing. So remember — pick berries or other fruits at the right
stage for eating out of hand if you \^ant them perfect for freezing.

All studies show that fruit keeps its color , shape and flavor
best if frozen with sugar or sugar-sirup. A thick sirup, or sugar dis-
solved in fruit juice, protects fruit from the air. The air breaks down
the tissues of the fruit and changes the color and flavor.

New York scientists suggest 3 good ways to freeze strawberries.
One way is to slice or chop the berries, and then freeze with sugar.
Another way is to leave the berries whole and freeze with sirup . Still
another way is to freeze whole berries with sugar .

Frozen sliced or chopped berries hold their flavor longer than
any other kind of frozen strawberry, say the New York scientists. Dark
red, solid, tart varieties are best this way. To prepare them, wash in
ice water and dry them, being very careful not to bruise them in the pro-
cess. Remove the caps, cut in quarter slices, or chop in quarters. Add
one pound of sugar to each 4 pounds of berries. Mix the cut fruit
thoroughly with sugar. Put in parraffined cartons and cover tightly.
Freeze at zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower.

Now to freeze whole berries in sirup , first make a thick sugar-

and-water sirup and cool it, Wash berries in ice water, dry them and
remove caps. Place the berries in cartons of heavily parraffined paper-
board, Jill the fruit up to a half inch of the top of the cartons. Pour
on enough thick sirup to cover the berries, and still leave at least an
eighth inch space at the top. Close the packages and freeze at zero
degrees or lower.

Sugar instead of sirup on whole berries gives more berry-flavor
but makes the fruit more mushy. If you use sugar, stir the berries with
one-fourth their weight of sugar until most of the sugar dissolves in the
juice. Then put the berries in paraffined cartons and cover with the
juice the sugar has drawn out of the berries. Cover the carton and freeze
at zero degrees or lower.

The Illinois Station suggests still another way to freeze straw-
berries — crushed berries with sugar for use on ice cream or on other des-
serts. Here are the Illinois directions for freezing crushed berries:
Wash, cap and crush berries. Add 1 cup of sugar to each 5 cups of fruit,
Mix until the sugar dissolves in the juice. Use leak-proof cartons
either pint or quart size. Pill them with the crushed sweetened berries
up to one-fourth inch of the top. Close the carton immediately and keep
in a cold place while you fill the other cartons. Take to a locker plant
immediately and make sure the berries go into zero temperature at once,

There are 4 good ways to freeze strawberries. The directions for

freezing whole with sugar or sirup apply also to raspberries — red, black

or purple; and to blueberries, and sour cherries. Sour cherries, currants

and gooseberries usually need more sweetening than strawberries. Pack them
with one pound of sugar for each 3 pounds of fruit. Sweet cherries need
less sweetening than strawberries. Use a thinner sirup for them.

That's all the freezing news today, Some day soon I'll bring you
notes on freezing early vegetables.