Did you know you can extend the life of your fruit by freezing it? Frozen fruit will last for about six months in the freezer. And there are three different ways you can do it:
- Dry packing – Place fruit in an airtight container or bag, seal, and freeze. This is great for fruit you plant to snack on frozen, make smoothies with, toss in your morning oatmeal, and so much more.
- Sugar packing – This process involves covering fruit slices with dry sugar and can be done in one of two ways. For sliced fruits, like peaches, you may want to allow the slices to sit in the sugar for 15 minutes to draw out the juice before freezing, while for whole or halved fruit, like berries, simply covering the fruit in sugar and freezing immediately will suffice. This method is great for fruit you intend to eat as a frozen snack, make compotes with, and use for baking.
- Syrup packing – In this method sugar and water are boiled to make a syrup, the syrup is then cooled and added to the container just covering the fruit, before freezing. You will want to make sure to choose a syrup strength best suited to the tartness of the fruit you’re using. A 40% syrup is used for most fruits while lighter syrups are best for mild flavoured fruits and heavier syrups are best for sour fruits. See the chart below for syrup ingredients.
Top tip! When freezing fruit, make sure to label the containers and date so you know what you have and how long it will last.
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