Unlike raspberries or currants, which can be grown on any household plot or at least bought on the market, blueberries grow in forests. Therefore, not all tried it.
But you can talk endlessly about its medicinal properties. Its influence on the eyes alone is worth something!
If possible, then blueberries should be consumed fresh daily. And to improve vision, and to normalize metabolism, as well as for the good work of the stomach and intestines.
But the summer passes quickly, which means the blueberry season ends. And so that blueberries can be eaten in winter, it should be frozen.
How to freeze blueberries without sugar
For freezing, only freshly harvested berries are good, which have not yet had time to give juice or creamed.
The berries are sorted out, removing spoiled, crushed, as well as twigs, leaves and impurities.
About whether to wash or not to wash the berries, opinions diverge. Of course, dried blueberries are easier to freeze. But given the fact that blueberries are harvested most often for fresh use, you should not freeze dirty berries. True, some hostesses prefer to wash the berries after defrosting. But thawed blueberries will surely give juice, and then some of the nutrients will be washed off along with the dirt. Therefore, blueberries need to be washed.
But this must be done very carefully. You can put the berries in a colander and several times lower it into the water. Or wash the berries under the weak pressure of water. Then you need to put the berries on a towel and dry.
To freeze blueberries when stuck together, they are frozen in two stages. First, the berries are laid out on a flat dish in a single layer so that they do not touch each other, and placed in the freezer for several hours (the term depends on the capacity of the freezer).
When the berries become hard, they are poured into plastic containers, tightly closed with lids and then cleaned in the freezer, not forgetting to sign the date of preparation. The shelf life of any frozen berries without loss of nutritional properties is approximately 6-8 months.
If the freezer is volumetric, then the frozen blueberries can be poured into plastic bags, without worrying that the berries during storage can be deformed due to tightly lying other frozen foods.
How to freeze blueberries with sugar
Blueberries are sorted out and must be washed!
Pure and dried berries are placed in small plastic containers, sprinkling them in layers of sugar. As soon as the blueberries give juice, the containers are closed and put into the freezer. But you can not wait for the appearance of juice, and immediately send blueberries with sugar for freezing.
How to Freeze Blueberry Puree
If after the collection of blueberries a lot of time has passed, and berries are crushed and given juice, then it is better to freeze them in the form of mashed potatoes.
To do this, blueberries are washed, sorted, removing impurities and heavily crumpled berries. Then blueberries are ground in a blender and mixed with sugar.
Blueberry puree is poured (not to the top) into small plastic containers, tightly closed with lids so that they do not absorb foreign odors, and put in a freezer.
How to freeze blueberry juice
Blueberry juice can be frozen with or without sugar.
Ripe, juicy berries wash well, and then squeeze the juice out of them.
Juice is poured into clean plastic bottles, be sure not topping up to the top by 2-3 cm, since the liquid will increase in volume during freezing and can squeeze the cap or turn the bottle. You can not pour the juice in a glass container, because the glass can not withstand the low temperature and burst.
The bottles are well covered with caps or corks and put into the freezer.
Blueberries (berries, mashed potatoes and juice) are defrosted naturally in the refrigerator. Because the accelerated defrosting (in the microwave or in hot water) impairs the quality of products, and berries lose most of the vitamins. Frozen berries are not subject to re-freezing, so the portions for freezing should be selected such that they can be used at once.
