How to properly freeze gooseberries for the winter in the refrigerator at home and is it possible

When it comes to summer berries, they immediately think of strawberries, raspberries, cherries and currants. But gooseberries are somehow undeservedly relegated to the background. And in vain. These fruits are just a storehouse of vitamins and other useful substances. And there are real legends about the unusual taste of gooseberry jam. But how to keep the berries fresh and as healthy as possible for the winter? Next, we will consider how to properly freeze gooseberries so that they retain all the beneficial trace elements.

Can gooseberries be frozen?

These berries are ideal for this type of harvest. They contain pectins, which increase turgor and extend shelf life.

Popular varieties for freezing:

• Change;
• Glory lepskaya;
• Malachite;
• Houghton;
• Korsun-Shevchenkovsky;
• English yellow;
• Eaglet;
• Kolobok;
• Change;
• Mysovsky 37;
• White triumph;
• Flamingo;
• Mukurines;
• Northern Captain;
• African;
• Date fruit;
• Consul;
• Hinnomaki Gelb and Stryn;
• Russian;
• Spring;
• Spring;
• Defender;
• Invicta;
• Neslukhovsky;
• Anniversary.

Selection and preparation of berries for freezing

Gooseberry pleases with a wide variety of species. The berries are green, white, yellow, pink, or red (some darker varieties appear black). When freezing, you must also take into account the taste of the fruit. Someone likes with sourness, while others like sweets. And sugar consumption will be different.

Preparatory work:

1. It is better to pick berries from the bush in the early morning, before they get hot in the sun.
2. Be sure to remove the leaves and tails.
3. The fruits should be rinsed thoroughly under cold running water.
4. Next, they must be thrown into a sieve or colander.
5. Excess water should drain off.
6. Then you need to lay out on a towel and let dry.

Important! Unripe or overripe, crushed, spoiled fruits are not suitable for storage. Sweet berries with dense skin tolerate freezing better. It is believed that more vitamins are found in white and green fruits.

Ways to freeze gooseberries at home

Such a preparation is distinguished by a high content of vitamin C (more than in apples, and almost as much as in raspberries). 100 g of fresh berries replenish 1/3 of the daily requirement of this vitamin. Frozen gooseberries are a source of vitamin B, A and PP. It compensates for the lack of chromium in the body (one of the best sources of this element). It contains a lot of chlorophyll (very useful for blood), serotonin (prevention of malignant tumors) and coumarins (useful for proper blood clotting).

Whole berries

This type of freezing is best for fruit with thin skin. It will be correct to lay them out on a dish in an even layer and put them in the freezer for a short time (for an hour or more). This is done so that the gooseberries harden and do not burst when deep frozen, and so that the berries do not stick together.

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Then take them out, let them stand, put them in containers and return to the freezer. If fruits with thick skin are used, pre-freezing can be omitted. The most convenient single serving is 300-500 g. The container should be taken wide and with low sides. So the berries will freeze quickly and evenly. This is the simplest and fastest freezing gooseberry without boiling.

Important! Gooseberries make delicious compotes, jellies, marmalades, jams, marshmallows. A special place is occupied by emerald and royal jam. The juice can be used to make delicious wine. Also, berries are added to salads, sauces are made of them, marinated as an independent dish, and with vegetables.

Freezing sugar-coated gooseberries

Arrange dry clean berries in convenient containers, sprinkle with granulated sugar. It is a simple natural preservative. If there are no plastic containers, tetra-pack packaging (for example, from milk or juice) will do. It has antiseptic properties and is lined with aluminum foil from the inside.

This type of freezing has two options. The first - gooseberries with sugar are immediately sent to the freezer. Second - the berries are first placed in the refrigerator so that the sugar is saturated with juice. Then cover the container and put it in the freezer.

In sugar syrup

If you come across an overripe gooseberry with a thin skin, you can also freeze it. Sugar syrup will help preserve it. Divide the prepared fruits into small plastic bowls. Separately prepare the syrup (boil 1/2 kg of granulated sugar in a liter of water). When it is completely cool, pour berries over it. And you can safely freeze.

Puree

Another tasty way to preserve thin-walled gooseberries. Completely dry berries must be crushed to a puree state. In order not to lose nutrients in the process, it is better not to use a meat grinder (or any other device with metal parts). It would be more correct to use a wooden crush.

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Cooking process:

1. Using home scales, divide all mashed potatoes into kilogram portions.
2. Add 300-400 g of granulated sugar to each. This rate is approximate. The sweeter the berry itself, the less sugar will be consumed. And vice versa.
3. Pour the resulting mass into containers and put on a shelf in the refrigerator.
4. When the puree has cooled enough, you can freeze it.

Shelf life of frozen gooseberries in the freezer

In order for the blanks to lie quietly for a year or even more (maximum - a year and 3 months), they should be provided with a temperature of –18 ˚C and below. The extremely negative temperature of an ordinary household freezer is -30 ˚C. If you freeze berries at a temperature of 0… -8 ˚C, then it is better to eat them within 3 months.

Recommendations and advice

Gooseberries contain a lot of water. If all the available berries are frozen in one bag, then in winter you will get a monolithic block of ice instead of ideally shaped fruits. Care must be taken to ensure that containers with gooseberries are carefully closed. Never store berries next to meat or fish.

It is better to label containers or bags with gooseberries with stickers. Especially if many different types of fruits are frozen.

It is not recommended to eat gooseberries for people with diseases of the stomach and pancreas (stomach and duodenal ulcers, colitis, enterocolitis and pancreatitis).

Summer is in every sense a hot time for housewives. After all, I want to prepare so much for the winter. Do not spare time and effort on gooseberries.With it you can cook a huge number of dishes, and not only sweet ones. In addition, with such a high content of nutrients in them, vitamin deficiency will not be terrible.