Is it possible to freeze fresh apricots for the winter

In winter, you really want natural, ripe and juicy apricots, and in stores they sell hard, unsweetened fruits of dubious quality. There is a solution - try freezing fresh apricots for the winter in the freezer. This household appliance helps out many housewives.

Freezing Fresh Apricots

At home, it is easy to cook four types of freezing: whole fruits, fruits in syrup, in their own juice and sweet puree. Whole fruits are stored for up to a year, mixes with sugar - 6-8 months.

Freezing fresh apricots is the best way to preserve all the benefits of summer with minimal losses. Cooking jam or compote leads to the loss of some valuable vitamins. In the freezer, these sunny fruits will remain as healthy as possible.

How to freeze apricots fresh:

1. Only whole apricots are suitable for storage, without dents or other damage. Overripe and rotten fruits should not be frozen. Inspect the skin - it should not have reddish spots.
2. After collecting or buying quality fruits, be sure to rinse them, or better soak them briefly to remove all dust.
3. Now apricots must be dried. Use a towel or napkin. It is better not to leave drops of moisture, they will ruin the fruit.
4. Fresh apricots are stored seedless. Cut the fruit, remove the seed and cut the pulp in convenient portions: halves, slices or cubes.
5. Now they need to be frozen, otherwise everything will stick together during storage. Lay the apricot slices on a baking sheet in an even layer and send to the freezer for a couple of hours.
6. When the fruits freeze and become hard, transfer them to containers with lids or bags, suitable packaging with vacuum fasteners.
7. A trick to help preserve the appearance of the apricot: sprinkle the workpiece with lemon juice. It is a natural preservative.
8. Place apricots in small portions to use them gradually. One serving - one dish.
9. Be sure to sign the date of departure for storage, so as not to forget to eat fruit before the expiration date.
10. Frozen apricots in the right conditions will lie until the next harvest, but it is better to eat them faster. The longer the fruits lie, the less nutrients in the pulp.

Temperature mode

So that whole apricots do not darken during storage and do not turn into shapeless porridge, you need to subject them to quick freezing. The faster the product hardens, the better it will look after defrosting. Old units did not allow to set the temperature below –18, and they had to be constantly defrosted.

Repeated freezing harms not only apricots, but also all products in general. Make sure that your freezer will run smoothly, if possible, use the shock freeze function and set the temperature from –20.

Tip
Place the apricot blanks in a separate freezer container. These fruits absorb odors well.

Apricots in own juice

This preparation is ideal for toppings in pies and other pastries. Frozen apricots are very soft and sweet.

How to make a delicious apricot harvest in your own juice, recipe:

1. To begin, carry out standard procedures: take the fruits, rinse them and free from the seeds. Now apricots need to dry a little.
2. Sprinkle the slices with sugar. You don’t need much, since the fruit juice itself is sweet. The number of crystals depends on the apricot variety, but an average of 2-3 tbsp is sufficient. l per 1 kg.
3. Let the fruit lie down at room temperature.They themselves will begin to secrete juice.
4. When there is enough juice, distribute the mass over the containers, cover them with a lid, place them in bags and send them for storage.

Tip
The magazine purity.bigbadmole.com/en/ recalls: ripe apricot has a bright orange color, its flesh is elastic, it easily separates from the seed. It is these fruits that need to be taken for blanks.

Apricots in sweet syrup

Syrup can be prepared separately if you are not sure about the sweetness of the juice:

1. Mix water and sugar in a ratio of 2 to 1. Melt the syrup so that no crystals remain.
2. Rinse and chop the apricots, fold them immediately in storage containers.
3. Pour the fruit with the prepared syrup so that it is covered to a third of the height.
4. Give the fruit a little nourishment.
5. When the syrup has cooled, cover the containers with lids and send to the freezer.

Apricot puree

Apricot puree is an excellent vitamin supplement for cereals. The bright mass will appeal to children and saturate their diet with the necessary vitamins. Freezing fruit puree is no more difficult than whole slices or apricots in syrup.

How to make healthy mashed potatoes:

1. Rinse and chop the apricots. Place the pieces in a blender or grate on a fine grater. If you like the consistency with the slices, then use a meat grinder.
2. Season the resulting mass immediately: for 1 kg of fruit mass - 300 g of sugar and 1 tsp. lemon juice.
3. Mix thoroughly and distribute everything in containers. For storing mashed potatoes, small plastic cups, milk packaging, etc.

Tip
Use curly molds for ice, candy, or baking. So you get nice pieces that decorate ice cream cake and other desserts.

By the way, mashed potatoes can be boiled before storage. The actions are the same, only the prepared mass needs to be kept a little at room temperature so that the sugar melts, then put on low heat and boil for 5 minutes after boiling. Stir the mashed potatoes with a wooden spatula so that it does not accidentally burn. Distribute the mass into containers in a cool form.

Fruit mix

All tips for freezing apricots are equally suitable for peaches and plums. Many summer treats are frozen, so why not make a fruit mix?

Cut apricots into slices, add raspberries, cherries, blackberries, sea buckthorn. Apple slices, dried apricots are well tolerated in the freezer. Do not forget: the workpiece is placed in a sealed container.

Sweet and such healthy apricots - their season passes so quickly! A fruit from a tree produces a huge amount. Why disappear such a valuable product? Make jam, preservation and do not forget about freezing. This preserves the maximum benefit, and also it is an excellent topping for ice cream!