When we came home on Sunday afternoon after a fun time picking strawberries at Swanton Berry Farm, I immediately went online and then tried to convince Jason that we should put yet another appliance in our tiny apartment: a small freezer (isn't it cool?). You may remember that our freezer is currently full of fish, and there is certainly not room for an entire tray of strawberries. He didn't love the new freezer idea, and definitely didn't understand our immediate need. I wanted it now!
With the strawberries going bad quickly, and no new freezer in sight to store them, I decided to puree them and then store them flat in ziplocs with 1 cup each of strawberries. The storage space required is much less than if I freeze them whole, and they will be good to defrost later and add to smoothies, lemonade, or other fun treats in the winter when we are longing for fresh summer fruit.
I am considering doing the same thing for more fresh fruit as the summer goes on. One of the things that came up during my food tracking week was that I really want to avoid buying frozen, non-local fruit during the winter for smoothies, and this method of freezing may get me well on my way.
