How to Freeze Blueberries

Since most of the year in Minnesota is spent cold or wrapped to the gills in warm clothes, the warm months are especially appreciated. One of the best ways to enjoy the warm weather is to pick fruit, starting with strawberries and raspberries, then graduating to blueberries and ending with apples. There is always something to pick in the summer and plenty of farms that allow you to come and pick your own berries- in this case it’s blueberries! Which leads to the question: How to save those fruits for year-round use? By freezing them, of course! Here is a step by step guide on how to freeze blueberries

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How to Freeze Blueberries

How to preserve almost any berry harvest

1- Pick the berries.

How many do you eat in a year? How much do you love them?

I eat blueberries on everything, so I knew that I needed to freeze a ton. I usually pick and freeze around ten 1-gallon pails (ice cream pails are my favorite, since they have a handle, but you can use whatever)

Related: 50 Blueberry Recipes to Try

2- Let the lighter colored berries ripen overnight.

Lay them all out newspaper, or as in the photo above, heavy-duty wrapping paper so that they’re in one safe spot.

Don’t let them sit out longer than one night, as they could start to go bad (raspberries and strawberries ripen especially quickly)

3- Sort through the berries.

Even before washing the berries it’s important to start to sort out the bad ones. This is also the time when to cut off or pull off stems and/or bad parts of the berries.

4- Wash the berries.

Using a stainless steel strainer wash a handful at a time, in order to keep on sorting and make sure they’re all clean. Then put them on a towel to dry.

5- Freeze blueberries.

To freeze the berries Lay them on a single layer on a cookie sheet. This way all the berries freeze through evenly. Leave them like this for 8 to 24 hours.

Then put the berries in gallon size zip locking freezer bags. Suck out all the air from the bag (this helps keep out moisture), seal it shut and pop it in the freezer for some winter-time enjoyment!

Related: Raspberry Blueberry Fruit Leather Recipe