Freezing gooseberries is a good solution if you’ve harvested too many to eat them all fresh. Here you can find out what you should pay attention to.
Freezing gooseberries works very well if you pay attention to a few things. The green, smooth gooseberries are particularly suitable for freezing. The berries don’t have to be quite ripe yet, because that way you reduce the risk of them bursting later.
Unlike other fruits, you don’t have to freeze gooseberries immediately after picking them – you can store them for a few days beforehand.
Freezing gooseberries: the preparation
Wash and trim gooseberries
Wash the gooseberries in the sink or a bucket, then remove their flowers and stems. The water should only be lukewarm or even cold.
Blanch gooseberries
To prepare, you should also blanch the gooseberries. To do this, put them in a pot of boiling water for about two minutes and then take them out again. Then pour cold water over them.
Sugar or not?
Optionally, you can sugar the gooseberries before freezing. This is not a must, but sugar makes the berries even more durable. Simply sprinkle the berries with a little sugar or boil it in some water and then pour the liquid over the berries.
Recommendation: shock-freeze gooseberries
Fruit often freezes together in the freezer and you can no longer remove it in portions. To prevent this, you should flash freeze the gooseberries before freezing:
Place them individually next to each other on a baking sheet or large plate.
Then store them in the freezer for two hours.
Important: The gooseberries should not touch each other and the freezer compartment should be set to the highest level for a short time.
The actual freezing
The last step follows: Freezing.
Take the shock-frozen gooseberries out of your freezer after two hours and store them in containers.
Make sure not to use plastic bags, but rather more environmentally friendly variants. Old jam jars or stainless steel cans, for example, are well suited. You can find out what other options are available here: Freezing food without plastic: 5 tips.
Store the jars in the freezer or freezer compartment.
The berries can now be kept for eight months. You can even store them in the freezer for up to a year.
