How to properly freeze apricots for the winter fresh in the refrigerator and is it possible

Housewives send many different berries to the freezer; in almost every cell there are strawberries, raspberries, black and red currants, blueberries. And what to do with stone fruits? How to properly freeze apricots to preserve more benefits for the winter?

It is necessary to harvest apricots, ripe fruits contain a lot of carotene, in addition, the pulp is rich:

• Vitamins of group B, C, PP.
• Copper, manganese, potassium, iron, cobalt.

Ripe fruits are used not only in cooking, cosmetologists are aware of the beneficial effects of pulp on the skin.

Is it possible to freeze apricots

It has long been customary to harvest fruits and berries for future use, for this our ancestors made seaming for the winter. Nowadays, many people still make jams, but freezing is slowly replacing everything.

Apricots were harvested for the winter in the form of jam and compote. The fruits are dried with or without pits, this is called dried apricots.

Freezing is preferable to all of the above preservation methods, almost all vitamins are preserved in frozen berries, and they disappear during heat treatment. Based on this, it is worth noting that apricots can and should be frozen.

Preparing apricots for the process

Before starting freezing, the fruits must be prepared. This process will not take much time, but it must be done.

To get more pure vitamins in winter, you need:

1. Collect tight, undamaged ripe fruits.
2. Washing and fingering are required; spoiled fruits cannot be frozen.
3. With any of the types of freezing, the bones must be removed. This must be done carefully if freezing is planned in halves.

It is advisable to take varieties of berries, from which the stone separates well, this will help save time and nerves.

Advice! After washing the fruit, be sure to let the water drain. It is best to place the washed apricots in a colander or large sieve. Drying with paper towels is also allowed.

Freezing apricot recipes at home

After the preparatory work carried out, they proceed directly to the freezing itself. You should not rush, you can do this in several ways, each of which is good in its own way.

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Whole

This method is suitable in cases where there is no time at all to pull out the bones. It should be understood that frozen berries in this form will take up a lot of space.

The process is carried out as follows:

• The food-grade plastic tray is lined with cling film.
• Put washed and dried fruits correctly in one layer on a prepared tray.
• The container is sent to the chamber and left to solidify completely.
• The frozen fruits are placed in a suitable container for further storage.

Cutting boards can be used in place of the tray, but they must be clean and dry. Lining them with foil is necessary for faster shifting after freezing fresh berries.

Slices

This type will allow the product to take up less space in the refrigerator. Correctly do this:

• The washed and dried berries are divided in half, the seed is pulled out.
• In a prepared tray, half the berries are laid out in one layer and sent to the freezer.
• If the appearance does not matter, then the container, in our case the tray, is completely filled with halves of berries. In this form, the berries are frozen and stored.

With sugar

This method, together with the berries in the container, will also produce a small amount of frozen apricot juice. The work is carried out in the following order:

• Pits are removed from washed and dried fruits.
• The halves of the fruit are placed in a single layer in a food grade plastic container.
• Pour a layer of sugar.
• Next, the layer is repeated, the top should be sugar.
• The containers are left at room temperature for juicing.
• After that, the containers with berries and natural fillings are placed in the freezer.

Berries with juice will no longer change their place of residence, they will wait in containers for their turn to be consumed.

In syrup

They began to freeze in syrup quite recently, the thought of the housewives was prompted by the fact that some varieties of berries lose their natural sweetness when frozen. The syrup is made from sugar and water; to add zest to frozen foods, you can add orange or lemon zest, bergamot, and a sprig of mint.

Preparatory work remains the same, only it is not worth lining the container with cling film.

The berries, disassembled into halves and already pitted, are laid out in one layer in a container. At the same time, syrup is prepared, the products are taken at the rate of two glasses of water a glass of sugar. While hot, the laid berries are poured into a third of the height of the container, allowed to cool. Cover with lids and send to the cell.

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For this method, low containers are suitable, so the food will freeze faster. And there will be less liquid.

Freezing apricot puree

Overripe berries, soft, but without rot, can be frozen by this method. It is not at all necessary to use fruits of an ideal shape, usually crumpled ones are taken for mashed potatoes.

The first thing to do is to make the puree itself:

• Pits are removed from the prepared berries and placed in a spacious container.
• Using a blender, chop the halves in mashed potatoes. You can use a meat grinder or grind in a food processor bowl.
• Sugar is added to the resulting mass.

The highlight will be orange peel or a little ground cinnamon. Everything is thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous mass is obtained. The puree is poured into prepared containers, without adding one third to the brim. Close with lids and send to the freezer. Put a little sugar, it is better to periodically taste the puree. Apricots may be sweet and sugar may not provide the desired sweetness.

Further storage

Store frozen berries in the freezer until their turn comes. This should last no more than a year if the berries were placed in a chamber with seeds. Puree and pulp in syrup can be stored for up to one and a half years.

When defrosting, do not immediately put the containers in the room; it is better to carry out the process in the refrigerator.