The delicious sweet cherries have one major disadvantage: they all ripen at the same time. In order to be able to snack on and process tasty cherries outside of the harvest season, it is worth freezing sweet cherries.
The sweet cherries should be as fresh as possible for freezing
Prepare sweet cherries for freezing
If you want to freeze sweet cherries, you should use freshly picked or just bought cherries. With each passing day, the sweet cherries lose their aroma. They should also not have any brown spots or other quirks, as this greatly reduces their shelf life when frozen and the taste of the sweet cherries also suffers.
Wash the cherries, drain thoroughly and remove the stems. Now you have to decide whether you want to pit the sweet cherries before freezing. Previously pitted cherries can be used if required without any additional work steps. Cherries frozen with the pit offer the advantage that they remain juicier and are easier to pit when semi-frozen than fresh sweet cherries.
Freezing step by step
- Spread the prepared sweet cherries side by side on a cutting board or tray and place them in the *** freezer for at least two hours. This step is especially important with pitted cherries, as it will prevent the cherries from freezing into a lump.
- Transfer the frozen cherries to freezer-safe containers. You can choose between freezer bags, cotton bags and boxes made of plastic or stainless steel. Label the containers with the freezing date and seal tightly.
- Place the pre-frozen sweet cherries in their freezer containers back into the freezer. At -18 °C, they still taste good after a year of storage.
Thaw and process sweet cherries
The type of thawing depends on how you intend to use the sweet cherries. For a freshly prepared compote, for example, you can put the frozen cherries directly into the saucepan. If sweet cherries are needed for cold desserts or for baking, you can defrost them in a colander and at the same time catch any cherry juice that drips out.
If you have not yet pitted your cherries, proceed as follows: Take the sweet cherries out of the freezer and let them thaw until you can easily cut into them with a sharp knife. If you pit the cherries in this state, the pit will come off the flesh more easily and the cherries will lose less juice than when pitting fresh sweet cherries.
Thawed sweet cherries have a much softer consistency than the fresh fruit. However, since they retain their good taste and vitamins, it is still worth freezing sweet cherries.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
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