Is it possible to freeze fresh apricots for the winter?

In winter, you really want natural, ripe and juicy apricots, but stores sell hard, unsweetened fruits of dubious quality. There is a solution - try freezing fresh apricots for the winter in the freezer. This household appliance helps out many housewives.

Freezing fresh apricots

At home, it is easy to prepare four types of freezing: whole fruits, fruits in syrup, fruits in their own juice and sweet puree. Whole fruits are stored for up to a year, mixtures with sugar - 6-8 months.

Freezing fresh apricots is the best way to preserve all the benefits of summer with minimal loss. Making jam or compote leads to the loss of some valuable vitamins. In the freezer, these sunny fruits will remain as healthy as possible.

How to freeze fresh apricots:

Only whole apricots are suitable for storage, without dents or other damage. Overripe and rotten fruits should not be frozen. Inspect the skin - there should be no reddish spots on it.
After picking or purchasing quality fruits, be sure to wash them, or better yet, soak them briefly to remove all dust.
Now the apricots need to be dried. Use a towel or napkin. It is better not to leave drops of moisture, they will spoil the fruit.
Fresh apricots are stored pitted. Cut the fruit, remove the seed and cut the pulp into convenient portions: halves, slices or cubes.
Now they need to be frozen, otherwise everything will stick together during storage.Spread the apricot slices on a baking sheet in an even layer and place in the freezer for a couple of hours.
When the fruits freeze and become hard, transfer them to containers with lids or bags; packages with vacuum seals are suitable.
A trick that will help preserve the appearance of the apricot: spray the workpiece with lemon juice. It is a natural preservative.
Place apricots in small portions so you can use them gradually. One serving - one dish.
Be sure to sign the storage date so you don't forget to eat the fruit before the expiration date.
Frozen apricots in the right conditions will last until the next harvest, but it is better to eat them quickly. The longer the fruits lie, the less nutrients there are in the pulp.

Temperature

To prevent whole apricots from darkening during storage and turning into shapeless porridge, you need to quickly freeze them. The faster the product hardens, the better it will look after defrosting. Old units did not allow the temperature to be set below -18, and they had to be constantly defrosted.

Repeated freezing harms not only apricots, but all products in general. Make sure that your freezer will work smoothly, if possible, use the blast freeze function and set the temperature to -20.

Advice
Place apricot preparations in a separate container in the freezer. These fruits absorb foreign odors well.

Apricots in their own juice

This preparation is ideal for fillings in pies and other baked goods. Frozen apricots are very soft and sweet.

How to make delicious apricot preparation in your own juice, recipe:

To begin, carry out the standard procedures: select the fruits, wash them and remove the seeds. Now the apricots need to dry out a little.
Sprinkle the slices with sugar. You don't need much since the fruit juice itself is sweet. The amount of crystals depends on the apricot variety, but on average 2-3 tbsp is enough. l. per 1 kg.
Let the fruits sit at room temperature. They will begin to secrete juice on their own.
When there is enough juice, distribute the mixture into containers, cover them with a lid, additionally place them in bags and store them.

Advice
The magazine purity-en.htgetrid.com reminds: a ripe apricot has a bright orange color, its flesh is elastic, and easily separates from the pit. These are the fruits that need to be taken for harvesting.

Apricots in sweet syrup

The syrup can be prepared separately if you are not sure about the sweetness of the juice:

Mix water and sugar in a ratio of 2 to 1. Melt the syrup until no crystals remain.
Wash and chop the apricots and place them immediately in storage containers.
Pour the prepared syrup over the fruit so that they are covered to a third of the height.
Let the fruits soak a little.
When the syrup has cooled, cover the containers with lids and place in the freezer.

Apricot puree

Apricot puree is an excellent vitamin supplement for porridge. Children will like the bright mass and will saturate their diet with the necessary vitamins. Freezing fruit puree is no more difficult than freezing whole pieces or apricots in syrup.

How to make healthy puree:

Wash and chop the apricots. Place the pieces in a blender or grate on a fine grater. If you like a chunky consistency, use a meat grinder.
Season the resulting mass immediately: for 1 kg of fruit mass - 300 g of sugar and 1 tsp. lemon juice.
Mix thoroughly and distribute everything into containers. Small plastic cups, milk cartons, etc. are suitable for storing puree.

Advice
Use shaped molds for ice, candy or baked goods. This will make cute pieces that will decorate ice cream cake and other desserts.

By the way, the puree can be boiled before storing. The steps are the same, only the finished mass needs to be kept for a while at room temperature so that the sugar melts, and then put on low heat and boil for 5 minutes after boiling. Stir the puree with a wooden spatula to prevent it from accidentally burning. Distribute the mixture into containers when cooled.

Fruit mix

All tips for freezing apricots apply equally to peaches and plums. Lots of summer treats are frozen, so why not make a fruit mix?

Cut the apricots into slices, add raspberries, cherries, blackberries, and sea buckthorn. Apple slices and dried apricots tolerate storage in the freezer well. Don’t forget: the workpiece is placed in an airtight container.

Sweet and so healthy apricots - their season goes by so quickly! And the tree produces a huge amount of fruit. Why should such a valuable product go to waste? Make jam, preserves and don’t forget to freeze. This preserves maximum benefits and is also a great topping for ice cream!