Freezing Blackberries
Freezing blackberries is a great way to preserve this short lived fruit before they spoil. Use them all year in so many recipes.
If you have bought blackberries at grocers or your local farm stand, you know they cost a fortune—$ 5 per half of a pint in my area.
Blackberries are a common plant that are easy to grow. Many times you can find them growing in meadow areas “wild.” They are, in fact, not really wild but are spread by birds eating the berries.
We’re fortunate to have several wild blackberry patches in the meadow areas of our property. We can easily go out back and pick 5 quarts of berries in less than an hour.
If you find a similar patch, it is good to mow them every two to three years to get rid of the deadwood and because they will fruit on second year wood. We mow half of the patch one year and then the second half of the patch the second year and keep rotating.
They have a short season in late July and August and have an even shorter shelf life. With all the berries that we pick, there is no way that I can get to preserving them.
The first berries that are ripe are generally smaller than the next batch that you pick. The second and third harvest generally produces the largest berries.
Towards the end of the season, the berries will become smaller and harder to find… and pick. When picking berries, it’s a good idea to wear pants and a long sleeve shirt. You can get your hand into the patch to get to that large berry that is catching your eye, but pulling it back out will scratch the heck of your arms.
What you need
For this recipe all you need is fresh blackberries. Try to find organic berries, if you grow them yourself, chances are they are organic because they aren’t really susceptible to many insects, only a couple.
Note: If you have your own organic berry patch, you really do not need to rinse them off. They actually freeze out better when they aren’t rinsed off.
How to freeze
There are four ways to freeze blackberries. Whole and pureed. You can either remove the seeds from the puréed berries or freeze them with the seeds. There are pros and cons for both methods. Read on to find out more.
How to dry pack
Step One
Gently pour berries into a colander.
For all methods, be sure to remove any stems or fragments of leaves.
Step Two
Gently rinse off berries with cold water.
Allow them to drain for a few minutes.
You can blot them with a paper towel but it’s not totally neccessary.
Step Three
Pour berries onto a parchment paper lined, rimmed baking tray.
Arrange them so there is space between, in a single layer.
Flash freeze to 3-6 hours until firm. This will keep individual berries from sticking together.
Step Four
Once they are solid, remove frozen berries from the freezer.
Gather up the edges of the parchment paper between your fingers to form a makeshift funnel.
Step Five
Pour berries into a freezer container.
If using freezer bags, use your canning funnel to direct them into the bag.
We almost always use a dry pack for berries since we try to limit the sugar that we eat.
How to freeze with a sugar pack
Pour fruit into a medium bowl. Sugar pack is simply adding ¾ cup (150g) of sugar to 1 quart of fruit. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved.
Pack into bags. Leave ½ inch headspace to leave room for expansion. Remove as much air as possible. Date and label bag. Freeze.
How to freeze in a syrup pack
You can also freeze raspberries with a syrup pack. Make a 40% (medium) sugar syrup. This is 3¼ cups (650g) sugar to 5 cups (1250 ml) water.
How to freeze purée
Perform steps one and two above. Washing blackberries. Add blackberries to food processor bowl. Pulse a few time to make the juice.
You can either freeze it with the seeds, or remove the seeds. You can pour the liquid into a fine mesh sieve and push the juice seeds and pulp out with a wooden spoon to remove seeds.
If you have one a juicer is great way to remove the seeds. Just pour the blackberries into the hopper and let the machine do the rest. We use my Kitchenaid mixer with a vegetable/ juice strainer. It makes it incredibly fast. We can do a quart of berries in a couple minutes.
Pros and cons of freezing puree as opposed to whole berries.
- They take up less room in the freezer.
- They’re great for making seedless jam or jelly.
- You can use them in smoothies or as an ice cream or yogurt topper and not be bothered by the seeds.
- The only con we can think of is that you can’t use the whole berries as you would in baking.
How long do frozen blackberries last?
Try to use your frozen berries up within a year. Before the next season so that you can freeze some more. Frozen berries may last longer but you risk freezer burn.
With all methods vacuum packing will preserve your fruit the longest.
How to use frozen berries
Frozen fruit will definitely lose their texture but they still have lots of uses.
You can use them thawed or frozen. Frozen ones are great for many recipes.
- For any baked goods that will go into the oven, only use frozen berries. If you thaw them first, they will change the moisture content of your batter or dough so that it may not rise.
- cakes, cookies, muffins, quick bread
- waffles and pancakes
- smoothies – just pop them into your blender
- jams and jellies
- Use them to make blackberry ice cream.
More frozen produce
More berry recipes
- freezing raspberries
- blackberry crisp
- freezing strawberries
- blackberry jam
- blackberry vinegar
- freezing blueberries
- blackberry pie
- blackberry syrup
Try freezing some blackberries today so that you can enjoy them for the rest of the year!
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I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Freezing Blackberries
Ingredients
- 1 quart fresh blackberries
Instructions
To freeze raspberries whole
- Place berries in a strainer and rinse with cold water. Let water drain in colander or use your salad spinner to rinse and gently spin the water from the berries.1 quart fresh blackberries
- Line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper. Place berries on parchment. Don’t let them touch. Freeze
- Once frozen, pick up parchment on both long sides and fold in half to move berries to the middle for easy pouring.
- Label and date bags. Pour them into plastic freezer bags or containers and get them back into the freezer as fast as you can. That way the berries will be separated and you can grab how ever many you need for your recipe.
To freeze purée or juice
- Place berries in a strainer and rinse with cold water. Let drain.
- Add berries to food processer.
- Blend until all chunks are removed. If you would like seedless juice, strain through a fine mesh sieve. Add cheesecloth, if you don’t have a sieve that is very fine mesh.
- Label and date your bags. Pour the purée, with the aid of your canning funnel into freezer bags.
- It’s a good idea to measure the purée so that you can take out the proper quantity for your recipe.
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USES FOR FROZEN BERRIES
- pie filling – use the juice instead of water for your pie filling to make it extra berry tasting.
- smoothies
- frozen drinks, like daiquiris and margaritas
- jams and jellies
- desserts
- ice cream
Nutrition
Originally published July 30, 2022
