How to freeze apricots for the winter?

Ripe juicy apricot is a real storehouse of vitamins. Bright orange fruit is a source of provitamin A - an antioxidant that actively fights against cancer cells, as well as iron, which promotes hemoglobin, and potassium, necessary for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. From it canned compotes for the winter, make jam and jams. But to preserve the whole nutritional value of fresh fruit, it is better to freeze the apricots.

Can I freeze apricots?

Frost as a way of storing vegetables and fruits promptly replaces familiar conservation. The main advantage of frozen foods is that they contain all the useful vitamins and minerals. However, not all vegetables and fruits retain their taste qualities under the influence of a low temperature regime. Is it possible and how to freeze apricots for winter?

The process of freezing for these fruits has its own characteristics. Apricots can be frozen, but often mistresses they are afraid to send to the freezer. What are the difficulties? Apricots, like plums and peaches, are darkened and deprived of vitamin C under the influence of enzymes. When thawing, they lose not only color, but also form, and have an unattractive appearance.

To keep apricots their amazing amber color, when you freeze, you need to take into account all the nuances. We'll talk about this a little later.

Nutritional value of frozen apricots

For those who doubt whether it is worthwhile to freeze vegetables and fruits or prefer preservation, it should be noted that in the first case vitamins are retained in full, as well as in fresh apricots. What can not be said about canned fruit.

Frozen apricot is an excellent remedy for the prevention and treatment of vitamin deficiencies, heart disorders, anemia. Thanks to this fruit, toxins and excess cholesterol are eliminated from the body gently and delicately, and low caloric content (only 45 kcal per 100 grams) makes it an excellent means to reduce excess weight.

People who have irregularities in the work of the cardiovascular and digestive systems suffer from constipation, apricots need to be eaten every day for 100 grams. And until the season of fresh fruit has come, frozen will become a real find in the winter cold.

How to freeze apricots for winter? Revealing the secrets

Before you start the freezing of products, you should familiarize yourself with the capabilities of your refrigerator. On how low the temperature regime supports the freezer, the shelf life of vegetables and fruits depends. It is marked with a certain number of snowflakes on the refrigerator door. For example, at a temperature of 18 degrees below zero, the shelf life is 12 months. This mode is indicated by three snowflakes. The higher the temperature in the chamber, the less time you can keep frozen foods in it.

How to freeze apricots? To begin with, they need to be thoroughly washed and dried, so that during the freezing process the fruit does not stick together. In addition, they should be cut beforehand in the way they are planned to be used: cubes, slices or to give another shape. Clean and dry apricots are laid out on a tray in one layer, frozen. Then they are transferred to packages or containers.

What to freeze apricots: in a container or a package?

It should immediately be noted that conventional plastic bags for long-term storage of frozen foods are not suitable. In this case, how to freeze apricots for the winter? For this, there are special bags and plastic containers with separators for storing different fruits and berries. Packages for freezing are so strong that they can pour even soup.

An important point in the storage of products is that they must be signed. This will allow one of two similar packages or containers to choose one whose shelf life ends earlier.

How can I freeze apricots? What is shock freezing?

Fruits can be stored in the freezer in various ways. First of all, they are frozen with or without sugar, ground or whole. In the first case, apricots without pits are folded in dense rows in a container and are poured over with sugar. Ground fruits are prepared in a similar way. Only apricot mass is mixed with sugar in advance.

Fruits that are frozen in their pure form, without the addition of a preservative, should ideally be subjected to rapid treatment with low temperatures. In the industry, such a frost is called shock and is carried out at a temperature of 50 degrees below zero. At the same time, the structure of the fruit and its useful qualities remain at the highest level. Home refrigerators do not have this function. The maximum freezing temperature at home is 24 degrees below zero.

Do I need to defrost the apricots?

If the freezing of products should be rapid, then the reverse process, on the contrary, is slow. Defroster apricots should be in the refrigerator, transferring there the container or bag from the camera one day before the planned use. You can use a microwave oven for this purpose. However, then there is a big risk to overheat and even weld fruit.

Apricots, prepared without sugar, are not subject to unfreezing. They must be used immediately.

Frozen apricots for compote

Fruits for compotes are easier to prepare. But how to freeze apricots so that they retain their nutritional value even in hot form?

First of all, after washing the fruit, you should not rush to act, but you need to wait a bit. Apricots should dry well, so as not to stick together. For fruit compote, the fruits are not cleansed of the peel and seeds. Apricots are frozen directly with bones, and immediately before being sent to boiling water they are pulled out from the freezer.

Frosting halves

Most often, apricots are frozen halves. After all, place the bones in the container, then to add them to the compote, there is no point. How to freeze apricots halves?

Fruits are thoroughly washed and dried. Further, they are cleaned from the bones and folded into the tray for quick freezing. After some time, they can be transferred to a special package, creating a vacuum in it. On the taste of such apricots are not inferior to fresh.

Apricots, frozen with sugar

These fruits after defrosting become soft, ugly and watery in consistency and taste. To prevent this, they are recommended to prepare with sugar or in syrup. Thanks to these two methods, it is possible to preserve the shape of the fruit, its aroma and bright orange color. How to freeze apricots for the winter with sugar?

To do this, the ripe hard fruit must be broken into slices and removed pits. Then sprinkle them with lemon juice diluted in water in a 1: 1 ratio. Prepare plastic molds. How to freeze apricots in containers? Fruits should be folded in rows in prepared containers, alternately pouring them sugar. After that, the containers are sent to the freezer.

Apricots with sugar can be harvested not only halves, but also in grinded form. The resulting puree is good for making milk shakes, yoghurts and other desserts. How to freeze apricots for the winter with sugar in this way? To do this, ripe soft fruits are grinded through a sieve, lemon juice is added to preserve color, mixed with sugar and transferred to a container for subsequent freezing. Keep as long as the temperature regime of your refrigerator. Defrosted apricots in a container immediately, not allowing a second frost. Now you know how to freeze apricots with sugar.

In syrup

Beautiful and tasty apricots, not inferior in terms of nutritional value to fresh fruits, are obtained if you pour them cold sugar syrup before freezing. To make it, you need 400 grams of sugar, 0.5 liters of water and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. This is another proven recipe, as it is delicious to freeze apricots.

Fruits should be washed, dried, split in half and removed bone. Then the peeled apricots are added to the container and filled with a cooled syrup, made of sugar, water and lemon juice. After that, the container can be sent to the freezer. The maximum shelf life of such apricots is 12 months.

Frozen apricot puree for baby

From frozen apricots you can make a useful fruit puree. Such a product is prepared without sugar, and its tender consistency allows using it as the first complementary food. How to freeze apricots for the winter for the baby correctly? The recipe is absolutely simple:

1. Apricots (about a kilogram) should be thoroughly washed and cleaned from the upper peel and bones.
2. Fold the fruits in a colander, fix it on top of a boiling pan and cover with a lid. It is necessary to do this so that the fruits become as soft as possible, and the prepared puree has a uniform structure.
3. After 5 minutes, the pan should be removed from the heat, allowed to cool, after which steamed apricots should be blended with a blender until a tender mass is obtained. To get a more liquid consistency to the fruit, you should add a couple of tables of water from the pan, where all the fruit was processed by steam.
4. A tablespoon of puree poured into ice molds.
5. Send to the freezer for at least 24 hours.
6. After the specified time, the ice container is removed from the freezer and heated with hot water from the bottom, then the cubes are well separated from its walls.
7. Transfer the finished apricot ice into special packages for freezing and use as needed.

For a child over three years, puree is prepared with the addition of sugar at the rate of 200 grams of sand per 1 kilogram of apricots.

Recipes with frozen apricots

Depending on how the apricots were frozen, they are used to prepare various desserts and as a juicy filling for baking. Fruits with a bone are suitable only for compotes, ground with sugar - for ice cream, natural yogurt and curd desserts. Of the fruits harvested with sugar, and also filled with sweet syrup, it is better to bake a delicious pie.

To prepare apricot pie, you need to take 3 eggs and beat them with a mixer with a glass of sugar until a lush, light mass is obtained. Then add 30 grams of melted non-corrosive butter and 3 tablespoons sour cream. Continue to beat for another 5 minutes. After that, 1½ cups of flour, add a teaspoon of baking powder and vanilla sugar to the egg mixture and mix with a spatula.

Prepare a baking dish: cover the bottom with baking paper or smear with butter, and sprinkle with flour on top. Next, pour the dough into a mold, put half of the apricots on top. To prepare this pie you need fruits that are not peppered with sugar. Pre-defrosting apricots is not necessary. Bake at a temperature of 180 degrees 50 minutes. Willingness to check with a toothpick.

Which way to freeze apricots is better: reviews

Before you start to freeze vegetables and fruits, it is worth considering how they will be used. Any method of cooling has its advantages and disadvantages. Each person decides for himself how best to freeze apricots.

Often at different forums and culinary sites, the landladies share recipes and feedback on ways of harvesting vegetables and fruits and options for adjusting the process. So, for example, apricot puree for winter for a child is better to be frozen portion by piece in ice molds or disposable cups. Do not tamp packs too much or fill containers up to the top. Unused at one time to re-freeze is not recommended.

Properly harvested apricots, if stored, will become a real treat in the cold season. In winter, frozen fruits will have a general strengthening effect on the body, and in the early spring they will get rid of beriberi.