How to properly freeze cranberries for the winter at home

How to store cranberries so they ripen

Harvesting begins in September - October, since it is very difficult to get it from under the snow. Usually the crop at this time is unripe, but has the ability to “reach” the house.

Previously, our grandmothers tried to specifically collect unripe cranberries; according to their observations, such berries last longer. Today this moment has been recognized by scientists. An unripe berry contains more organic acids, and the higher the acidity, the longer its shelf life. And at the same time, the fruits are harder than ripe ones. Less wrinkling and choking.

In order to store unripe cranberries, you will need a basket or cardboard box in which you need to make slits on the side walls to allow air to circulate.
Place cotton cloth or paper on the bottom of the container.
Scatter the cranberry harvest. The completely green berries are thrown aside.
Place the basket somewhere dry and at room temperature.
You will need to wait 2-3 weeks until the cranberries are completely ripe.

Advice! If you put a red tomato or a ripe apple in a box with berries, the ripening will go faster, since ethylene gas comes from vegetables and fruits.

Your cranberries are ripe, you can start preparing them for the winter.

What to do with unripe cranberries

Ripe cranberries have a valuable chemical composition that gives the berry both dessert and medicinal properties. Organic acids contained in red fruits ensure their long-term preservation. Cranberries accumulate benzoic acid, which is rare for plants - a powerful antiseptic. It does not allow microorganisms to multiply and extends shelf life.

A distinctive feature of cranberries is their ability to ripen after picking. For such storage, raw materials collected at the “white barrel” stage are suitable - this is when the entire fruit has acquired a specific red color and only a small area remains pale. At this time, the pulp is still dense, and there are enough acids for long-term storage.

In order for cranberries to ripen after harvest, you only need to meet a few conditions:

The storage container must be well ventilated. Cardboard boxes and wicker baskets lined with clean cloth are suitable. You can simply scatter the berries in a small layer on a clean towel.
The room must be dry and ventilated. Active ripening occurs at a temperature of about +25 °C.
It will take from 7 to 14 days to acquire full ripeness. After uniform coloring, the fruits can be stored for long-term storage.

Cranberries that have ripened after picking do not have such a strong aroma and rich taste as those collected at full ripeness. But such raw materials are easier to process and transport, the fruits are not deformed, and the shelf life is significantly extended.

How to preserve cranberries for the winter without freezing

Storing fresh berries is perhaps the best option to provide your family and friends with vitamins all year round. But to achieve this, it is important to observe several factors:

Storage temperature should reach up to (+8) degrees.
The place should preferably be cool and dark.
The main condition is ventilation of the air in the room.
During storage, cranberries should be periodically inspected for spoilage.

These parameters include storing cranberries in a cellar, vegetable store, or underground. You can just as well store fresh berries on a glassed-in loggia. Here the container should be covered with old rags in case of penetration of low temperatures. Under such conditions, a fresh berry harvest can last up to three months, and on the balcony for up to six months.

Important! The duration of storage of fresh whole berries depends on the container, so for the basement, only wooden boxes with side holes are suitable; on the balcony you can store them in cardboard boxes. This is necessary to ensure that natural ventilation is always present and the percentage of humidity is reduced.

Storage in water

Another way to preserve for the winter without refrigeration is to use water. In ancient times, when there were no refrigerators and freezers, the most popular method of winter harvesting was storing cranberries in water. Today this method is almost forgotten.

For urination, use plain water and sweet syrup. This storage is used to preserve vitamins to a greater extent. The berry turns out whole, filled with water. Subsequently, it is used to prepare delicious berry drinks. The method is simple and accessible. To soak cranberries you will need:

dishes (glass, ceramics, wood, enamel pots);
berry cleared of impurities;
water or syrup.

Cooking method:

The water should be boiled and cooled in advance.
If syrup is used as a replacement, then take 1 tbsp per 1 kg of fruit. l. sugar and 0.5 tsp. salt.
Pour the berries into a bowl and fill with the liquid used. Add cinnamon to taste.

Store in winter, preferably in a cool place - in a cellar, basement. This method differs from others in that during storage you can remove any amount of cranberries for use without disturbing the process of preserving the rest of the crop.

Popular storage today is freezing the crop in the freezer, which is one of the simplest. Procurement algorithm:

Sort the cranberries and dry them (mandatory action).
Prepare containers for packaging. Small plastic containers or ziploc bags will do.
Place enough berries into the container to use them at a time in the future, since further freezing of thawed cranberries is not advisable. Cranberries do not like multiple frosts.
Place compactly in the freezer or refrigerator, in a drawer with other berries.

This method allows you to keep a small harvest, collected personally or purchased in a store, in your apartment. Shelf life up to 12 months. You won’t have to open the cellar, which is covered for the winter, once again. The use of frozen cranberries is universal: compotes, cakes, muffins, as a filling.

Storing cranberries in the freezer

There are two options for storing in the freezer: freezing slightly unripe or ripe berries.

In the first case, rinse and after drying, place the cranberries in plastic bags, tie tightly and place in the freezer.

Other methods

How else to properly store cranberries without refrigeration?

Rubbed with sugar

Many housewives use it to change the sour taste. Any child will love her this way. Fresh “jam” is suitable for any baking and making healthy drinks.

Grind the berries in the usual way (meat grinder, blender, food processor).
Add sugar to the paste. Keep the proportions 1:1 so that the berries do not ferment later.
Pour into small jars and seal tightly. Store in a cool place.

On a note! Particularly popular is the one that can be prepared at home.

Dried

If there are no places where you can put a jar of cranberries, then dry them.

You can dry the berries without removing leaves and branches.
Place the harvest on large baking sheets lined with paper or cloth.
Dry only in a ventilated area, preferably outdoors (in the attic, on the balcony, under a canopy).
Can be dried in the oven at minimum temperature. Now some housewives have electric dryers, which are also convenient for making preparations.

Where should the dried product be stored? Usually glass, porcelain, and ceramic dishes are used for this. A wooden bag or sewn canvas bags are suitable and will fit comfortably in your closet. How long to store? This berry can provide you with useful substances for three years.

Important! The main condition for storing such a semi-finished product is to avoid direct sunlight and moisture, since dried fruits tend to absorb excess moisture, and this will spoil the cranberries.

Canned

You can make jam, jams, compotes and other pickles from cranberries for the winter. In one of our articles you were provided with a selection. It can be prepared:

from whole cranberries;
with lingonberries;
with oranges;
with pears and apples;
with walnuts;
in a slow cooker;
without cooking.

They also make compote from cranberries, which is stored for a long time along with jars of jam in the cellar, basement, or they can simply stand in your home in a cool place. This preparation involves the use of heat treatment, which results in the loss of some of the beneficial substances, but little children will appreciate the delicacy.

The listed methods of storing berry crops are very popular with experienced housewives, but if you do not have frozen or dried berries in your arsenal, then purchasing them in the supermarket will not cause you any difficulty.

Everyone knows the benefits of cranberries for the body. It contains many acids and microelements that can enhance human immunity, as well as completely replenish the human body with vitamins. Cranberry cleanses the body of harmful compounds and toxins.

Cranberries can be consumed by everyone, there are no exceptions. Nutritionists advise consuming cranberries constantly, without restrictions for health reasons.

To get a large amount of vitamins from berries in winter, you should avoid heat treatment, sterilization, and hermetic packaging. Due to the presence of benzoic acid in it, it is perfectly stored fresh.

Lovers need to know how to store cranberries.

At home, the berry is used in various forms:

Fresh.
Rubbed.
Dried.
Frozen.
Sprinkled with sugar.
Soaked.
Canned.
In its own juice.

We sort the freshly harvested crop from leaves and branches, and also throw away spoiled berries. It is better to pick after the first frost, this berry tastes especially sweet. Many people collect it in the spring, after the snow melts. But it contains few useful substances and is poorly stored.

Compotes or jams are prepared from mashed berries. Unripe cranberries are laid out in a wooden or plastic container in a thin layer and placed in a warm, bright place so that they ripen.

At home, you can store it in the refrigerator without freezing or in the freezer.

Storing it in the freezer is very easy. It is necessary to wash and dry clean ripe cranberries on a kitchen towel or paper, place them in plastic containers or bags, seal them tightly, and place them in freezer drawers. So, it can lie for more than a year.

Important:

The packaging for freezing should be small so that it can be used at a time and not be re-frozen.

Cranberries can be preserved in their own juice. To do this, it is divided into two parts, one is placed in jars, and juice is prepared from the other.

Whole berries are poured with this juice. Jars must be sterile. Such blanks are stored in a cellar or underground next to other blanks, or in the refrigerator.

To store cranberries at home, you can use the drying process.

You can dry it in the fresh air, first lay out the clean ripe berries on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

During this drying process, it is important to stir it so that mold does not appear. It is also dried by rolling in sugar.

A household electric dryer is also used for drying; the set temperature should reach 60–80 degrees. This method is more convenient for drying berry crops.

Dried cranberry fruits are stored in glass or wooden jars, hermetically sealed, preferably in a dark cabinet. Dried cranberries are added to compote with other fruits. You can soak it and use it as a filling for pies.

Cranberries pureed with sugar

Cranberries pureed with sugar have their advantages and disadvantages. It has good taste, which those with a sweet tooth will enjoy. This method has been known for a very long time and is often used for various berries that do not have the same properties that help preserve their appearance and properties as cranberries. In the case of cranberries, the main disadvantage is the loss of most of the vitamins.

Berries prepared in this way at home are still much healthier than those bought in a store. It contains no harmful additives or food colorings, and the taste is as good as store-bought.

Before mashing cranberries, they should be prepared. Ripe berries without rot are washed, dried and mixed with sugar. The same amount of sugar is used as berries.

The resulting mixture must be ground using one of the following devices:

Then the finished cranberries, in a rather attractive form, are laid out in prepared sterilized containers, covered with plastic lids and stored in the cold all winter. This product is not only tasty, but also healthy, helps with colds, heals the throat, is a good dessert and a tasty filling for pies.

There are still a large number of ways to store cranberries so that they delight their owners all winter. Here are some examples of delicious recipes:

You can not grind the cranberries, but simply sprinkle them with sugar, shaking the jars well and storing them in the refrigerator.
The berries, ground with sugar, can be slightly heated over a fire, which will help dissolve the sugar and make the taste more delicate. Lightly frozen berries, which are sweet and tasty, are well suited for these purposes.
In winter, cranberries cooked in their own juice will please you. To do this, the berries are sorted, large ones are left whole, and smaller ones are ground and juice is obtained from them. All this is placed in a pan and heated, then distributed into jars and sterilized. The jars are rolled up with lids using a machine.
You can make jam from the berries, which is used as a dessert and as a filling for pies. In this case, take only ripe berries, boil them with a small amount of water until the skin bursts, then add sugar and cook for about another 20 minutes. If a drop of syrup does not spread on the saucer, the jam can be considered ready, put it in jars and screw on the lids.
To make jam, take one and a half kilograms of sugar and two glasses of water per kilogram of berries. The berries are boiled in sugar syrup until tender and placed in containers.

Cranberries are very beneficial for the human body, they help improve immunity, help cure various diseases, are a source of vitamins, have good taste and make you want to eat them all year round.

Berries prepared in this way at home are still much healthier than those bought in a store. It contains no harmful additives or food colorings, and the taste is as good as store-bought.

Fresh storage without freezing

How to store fresh cranberries? To do this, use water and a container in which the cranberries will be stored. Take boiled and cooled water and pour it over fresh berries. If the harvest is large, then you can take larger dishes, for example, enamel pans. Many people store soaked berries in a jar.

Cranberries will remain in water for a very long time; due to the presence of antiseptics in it, they will not spoil.

This berry-water mass can be kept on the balcony; it must be glazed and insulated so that the pickled cranberries do not freeze. It is also stored in a dark, cool place at home or in an apartment in a pantry. Suitable for storage in a refrigerator or cellar.

Compotes, jelly, jams are made from pickled cranberries, or they are simply mixed with sugar and eaten.

The finished mass is placed in small jars and must be sealed tightly. Grated with sugar, cranberries are used as a remedy for vitamin deficiency and colds.

In the cellar, cranberry preparations are stored for a long time along with other canned products.

The cranberries are simply covered with sugar one to one and placed in convenient jars. It is advisable to store jars in the refrigerator.

If the crop is slightly frostbitten when harvesting, you can heat it with sugar over the fire until the sugar dissolves. This jam is very tasty and will not lose its properties at all.

Fresh berries can be stored in bags or wooden boxes. You just need to sort it out to remove dirt, but under no circumstances wash it.

Stored in a cool, dark place for a long time. In a city apartment, this method is unlikely to be appropriate. An underground or cellar is better suited for this.

How long do fresh cranberries last in the refrigerator?

It is better to freeze and store in the freezer without defrosting. Can be stored for more than a year. To make fruit juice, you throw frozen fruit directly into boiling water and there is no loss in taste or usefulness. Another way is to store it, ground with sugar, in the refrigerator, open it and just gobble it up.

It is better to freeze and store in the freezer without defrosting. Can be stored for more than a year. To make fruit juice, you throw frozen fruit directly into boiling water and there is no loss in taste or usefulness. Another way is to store it, ground with sugar, in the refrigerator, open it and just gobble it up.

At what temperature should it be stored and for how long?

For any method of keeping berries, the absence of light or the presence of dim light is necessary. Packaged cranberries should be tightly sealed.

Important:

You should not place blanks or fresh berries in iron, galvanized containers; they will quickly begin to deteriorate due to oxidative processes between the product and the walls of the container.

Depending on your living conditions, it is important to choose the right way to store cranberries.

Housewives should not make jam or compotes from it, that is, subject it to heat treatment, since this miracle berry can be stored fresh for a very long time, unlike others.

Even if your harvest is stored at room temperature or sub-zero temperatures, this will not reduce the availability of nutrients in the berries.

The cranberry harvest has been harvested. The pantry has been replenished with a new batch of fruit drinks and jams. However, there are still a lot of useful berries left. You need to master a simple task, figure out how to store cranberries at home. The fresh product is full of vitamins and valuable microelements. The task is not to lose a single milligram of nutrients.

How to Preserve Cranberries Using Water

For this method of storing cranberries at home, we use glass jars, plastic bottles or, if there are a large number of berries, enamel pans.

Interesting: How long can Pickled Cucumbers be stored in a Closed Jar?

All containers must be prepared. The pans used are enameled; they must be free of defects and have intact enamel over the entire surface.

The water is boiled for two minutes, then cooled to room temperature.

Whole, undamaged berries are washed and placed in prepared containers, then filled with prepared and cooled water.

Containers with cranberries filled with water are covered with lids and placed in a cool place. This could be a refrigerator, a basement, or just a balcony where the temperature is lower than in the room.

In this form, cranberries can be stored all winter, maintaining their beneficial qualities.

The only threat will be a slight loss of taste as a result of the berries absorbing some amount of water.

In addition to direct consumption, soaked cranberries can also be used for preparing fruit drinks, jelly, and as a filling for pies. The combination of cranberries and pumpkin is very tasty, which gives the pies an unusual and very pleasant taste.

general information

When choosing a product in a store, you should evaluate the appearance of fresh cranberries. Freshly picked berries should be firm, undamaged, and deep red in color. A harvest that is fully ripe and has lost its hardness cannot be preserved for a long time. Green cranberries will not bring joy either in taste or in terms of healing properties. This means that you need to approach the choice of berries responsibly and buy fruits of medium ripeness.

Interesting! A good cranberry springs like a ball, literally jumping on the surface of the table. This is the right choice.

Regardless of your preferred storage method, cranberries must be sorted. It is important to remove leaves, branches, unripe fruits and other debris. Set aside bursting, crushed berries for fruit drinks or jam, and wash whole ripe cranberries for subsequent processing.

On a note! The berry contains benzoic acid, a natural food preservative. This component prevents the appearance of bacteria or mold. Thanks to benzoic acid, cranberries do not require sterilization or the use of additional preservatives.

How to prepare cranberries for storage

To prepare cranberries for long-term storage, you need to do the following:

Sort through and separate debris and leaves.
Remove spoiled and crushed berries.
Remove all unripe specimens, as well as white, green and overripe ones with signs of rot.
After selecting, wash the berries.
Dry on a flat tray until the berries are completely dry.

Only after all the preparation is it necessary to quickly and correctly process or store the northern berries. If the berries are picked after the first frost, then most often they do not need additional preparation. But you still have to weed out the sick and depressed fruits.

When checking for ripeness, experienced housewives proceed as follows: throw the berries on the floor. If it bounces like a ball, it means it is in an ideal state of maturity.

Interesting: Is it possible to add dill sprigs to canned tomatoes?

Fresh berries all year round

Storage in water

This method is used when harvesting berries on an industrial scale. However, it is easy to reproduce at home. So, pour clean cranberries into a glass, plastic or enamel bowl and pour cooled boiled water over it.

Long-term storage will certainly lead to saturation of the berry with liquid and make the product watery, but this will not affect the beneficial properties of cranberries.

In winter, it makes a fragrant filling for baked goods, mousses or fruit drinks. In any case, the taste of fresh berries is radically different from canned ones, for the better.

On a note! This option for storing cranberries is good because the dishes can be placed both in the refrigerator and on the loggia or in the basement.

Freezing

Today, blast freezing is the only option for long-term storage of food products without loss of nutrients.

This method will help keep cranberries in perfect condition for the winter. There are no special tricks. The berries are traditionally sorted, removing wrinkled and spoiled fruits. Wash carefully under running water. Dry well on a towel or napkin. Place in glass, plastic containers or plastic bags and place in the freezer.

To prevent the berries from sticking together, you can first spread them on a baking sheet, cutting board or container in one layer, put them in the freezer for an hour, and then put them in a bag. Then, during further use, it will not be the sticky mass that will be used, but whole and undamaged fruits.

On a note! It is advisable to store cranberries in portions. When taking out a frozen product, it is used without any residue. Otherwise, there is a risk of spoiling the taste and appearance of the berries.

Cranberries with sugar

This method of preparing berries for the winter has been known for a long time. Housewives annually grind raspberries, currants with sugar and put them in the refrigerator. Storing cranberries in this form is no exception. It is necessary to grind an equal amount of fresh berries and granulated sugar (for example, pass through a meat grinder, blender), put the puree in a sterilized glass jar, close the lid tightly and refrigerate.

This is an excellent remedy in the fight against colds and reliable protection for weakened immunity.

Interesting! There are recipes according to which clean whole fruits are placed in sterilized containers in small portions, and sugar is poured between them. That is, cranberries covered with white preservative remain whole and undamaged.

Just in the refrigerator

We clean the berries from debris, wash them, place them in a colander and let them dry completely (you can spread them on cotton fabric or cardboard).
Place the dry berries in a small basket, cardboard box or container with holes. Just a glass jar will do, but then you don’t need to close it with a lid. The container must have holes for air ventilation.
Place in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf.

We once stored cranberries in the refrigerator this way, and they stayed with us until the New Year. Then she went slightly limp.

How to choose the right frozen product?

The market is replete with frozen cranberries in various packaging. Initially, it is recommended to take the amount of berries that would be used at a time. You shouldn't stock up for future use. If the seal of the packaging is broken, the product will not be preserved for a long time. When buying cranberries in a store, you need to carefully feel the bag. All berries should be easily separated from each other. If at home in a bowl there is a scattering of ruby beads in frost, and not a pink ice tile, then the cranberries were subjected to one-time shock freezing in a vacuum. Otherwise, we can talk about incorrect processing technology, storing the product in violation of the rules and repeatedly defrosting it.

How to store thawed cranberries?

What to do if only part of the frozen berries was used when preparing a dish? Will it be possible to preserve the rest of the cranberries for at least a few days? Yes. The main thing is not to refreeze it.

The first method means that the berries are simply placed in a glass container, hermetically sealed and placed in the refrigerator. Duration – 2-3 days.

The second method suggests soaking the thawed berries in water. There is no need to count on long-term storage, but for about a week the cranberries will retain some of the nutrients and fresh taste. During this time, you need to figure out what to cook from the precious fruits.

On a note! Temperature treatment deprives desserts of vitamins and essential microelements. Pay attention to recipes that do not require cooking cranberries.

Freezing cranberry pucks

Cranberries - 6 l Sugar - to taste

They are prepared simply: the cranberries are crushed in a food processor (blender, meat grinder). The cake with seeds is separated from the juice. To do this, I simply place the grated cranberry mixture in a fine-hole colander overnight. Sugar and star anise are added to the juice (this is optional) and everything is heated until the sugar dissolves, but does not boil.

To taste, cranberry juice should be sweet and sour, with a slight bitterness. Color – dark burgundy, rich. The concentrated juice is poured into a silicone mold for baking muffins.

I take out the pucks from frozen cranberries, stack them on top of each other in a “column”, and pack them in several layers of film or in several plastic bags. And I put it in the freezer for long-term storage. [yandex]

Cranberry juice

A puck of frozen cranberries is filled with hot water, stirred, and after 30 seconds the healthiest cranberry juice is ready. Your kidneys will thank you!

Cranberry sauce for meat or fish

The sauce will taste sweet and sour and goes perfectly with pork, especially baked pork. Just defrost the puck and pour the sauce over a piece of meat or fish. Mmmmmmm….

Cranberry sauce for sweet dishes

My children love to pour this sauce over cheesecakes and cottage cheese casserole. Or dip pancakes in sauce.

If you pour boiling water over the puck, add starch diluted in hot water, and bring to a boil, you will get another children’s delicacy - jelly.

If you add gelatin instead of starch and let it cool, you get a universal winter dessert - cranberry jelly. Children really like it.

Salad dressing

Add a teaspoon of cranberry juice to your sauerkraut and it will taste much, much better! And more beautiful. My eldest daughter fell in love with sauerkraut thanks to cranberries: “because it’s pink”