What To Do With Your Delicious Berries
Okay…you’ve picked – or picked up – your strawberries. Assuming that you didn’t eat them ALL on the way home, you’re ready to use them or store them for use later on.
Here’s the thing…these strawberries are DIFFERENT. (We’re guessing you may have already noticed that, either from the appearance…the sweet aroma…or the taste…)
You see, there are dozens of varieties of strawberries in the world. Unlike many that you’ll find in the grocery stores for the other 10 months of the year, the varieties we grow here are NOT the ‘shipping’ type – you know, the ones that are huge, white in the centre, and hard like…well…Styrofoam – with almost as much flavour?!?
Why are we telling you this? Because in order to get the best out of these berries, you’ll need to treat them differently. They’re not meant to last for days in your fridge, and certainly NOT on your kitchen counter.
Here's Our Berry Best Advice...
Use – or freeze – your berries as soon as possible
Refrigerate in a shallow container (to avoid crushing), with hulls intact
Rinse and Remove hulls just before using. When rinsing, use cold running water and avoid soaking. Pat dry if desired.
Clean, hulled berries may easily be frozen whole or sliced: Simply lay in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until firm (1 – 2 hours). From there, toss into a freezer bag, or container and return to the freezer.
Or, put away crushed berries for later use in sauces or jams: Clean, hull and crush your berries. Pour into rigid containers, or freezer bags and freeze. Frozen berries will keep well for 12 months
In case you missed it, here’s a link to recipes for strawberries from Foodland Ontario
