How to freeze apples for the winter: tips

"Apple, bulk, amber!". Today there is no need to advertise them. Sold all year round absolutely everywhere. With due diligence, you can perfectly save from your garden until March. And what about those who have nowhere to store fruit? There is a solution if there is a freezer.

How to freeze apples for the winter? Skeptics will now say that after defrosting a shapeless mass is obtained, fruits lose their vitamins. And that's not true! Of course, the consistency will not be the same, but it is far from being smeared. By the way, about 85-90% remains of vitamins in a frozen apple, so no need to rant in vain. After all, summer berries are used with pleasure after defrosting. And how is an apple worse? You just need to freeze it properly.

Choosing apples correctly

For the most lazy, there is a simple method: wash the fruit thoroughly and put it all in the freezer. Naturally in a plastic bag.In winter we reach, thaw and burst. Remember, many in childhood, parents often got hard icy fruits right out of a snowdrift. Thawed on a silver platter near the stove or battery. That taste is impossible to forget!

And what prevents to do so now? And now the sense of aesthetics is in the way. It is already not interesting just to eat a thawed apple. Yes, and on the open cake such a thing does not look at all. I want beautiful smooth slices, light color. How summer you want. So everything is quite doable.

Appearance initially does not matter, because the fruit must be cleaned. The main thing is that they are ripe and without rotten barrels. Unnecessary scratches or dents are also a little welcome. By the way, green fruits after defrosting have a much less pleasant taste than yellow or red. It is worth considering.

And the last criterion is juiciness. Loose, "wadded" fruits will not give that, pleasant juice.

Sequencing

Apples are thoroughly washed with a soft brush, dried on a rag towel. Prepare cold water in advance. Add freshly squeezed lemon juice or dissolve citric acid.Without fanaticism! Just to a slightly sour taste.

Fruits are peeled, cut into 4 parts. So it will be easier to remove the bones. After cutting the core, the quarters are cut into slices (decorate a charlotte or pie), cubes (suitable for filling pies or compote), large straws (the ideal layer for a roll). Sometimes applesauce is required. For example, for sauce. In this case - grater to the rescue!

Council You can not bother and just cut the apples in circles. But then the freezing process will take much longer and in small volumes. Below it will be clear why.

Prepared cutting is immediately immersed in a bowl of acidified water. 10 minutes will be enough. This will allow the apples to remain light without oxidation in the open air. Of course, this item does not apply to puree.

Next, take the biggest baking sheet, which only fits into the freezer. Suitable cutting board or thick cardboard. Covering with dense polyethylene. Apple blanks are put on it in one layer. They try not to cling to each other, otherwise they will freeze it in one piece. And circles will settle down a little!

Top cover with a second bag or film, sent to the freezer for 2-3 hours. Puree can be frozen on small plates, which are also covered.

During the time when primary cooling is in progress, it is necessary to prepare food plastic containers. Wash and dry them. As an alternative, reusable zip-zip pouches are suitable.

Take out slightly frozen apples, pour them into prepared containers and put them back in the freezer. Now for long-term storage. Pancakes frozen mashed potatoes can be wrapped with several layers of cling film.

These blanks are perfectly stored for 10 months.

Council It is necessary to lay out the ready-made fruit in small portions so that in the winter you do not have to pull out the whole package from the freezer.

Useful recommendations

1. A piece of greenhouse film is ideal for primary freezing. Naturally new and thoroughly washed.
2. To facilitate freezing for prolonged storage, you can put an old thick towel under the polyethylene. Then the film will definitely not break under the weight of the fruit.
3. Some freezers have a “quick freeze” function.When using it, the primary cooling time is reduced to 30 minutes.
4. For long-term storage, the modern industry offers special packages for freezing. They are called so. Cost a penny, sold in every hardware store or department. They are great time savers, and most importantly, do not let in odors. And their standard freezer is very rich. If you do not want to feast on apples with the aroma of dill or raw meat, then you should definitely pay close attention to these bags.
5. When peresypanii all actions should be as fast as possible, but neat. It is difficult to break cubes, but slices - easily. It does not affect the taste, but the desired beauty on the open cake will not work. The speed is important for one reason: if you hesitate, the upper frozen crust on the fruit will thaw, and they stick together in such a monolith that only a hammer will help. There is no time for the beauty of the fruit, there will have to catch pieces throughout the kitchen from the blows.
6. If for some reason this happened, and the apples in the freezer stuck together, then everything is fixable. You can fill them with sugar and make a beautiful fragrant jam or jam.Or put the whole briquette in boiling water and boil vitamin compote.
7. Any freeze is always signed. Do not rely on your memory, use a permanent marker, it is not washed off with water and is clearly visible.

How to freeze apples for the winter? Sure, spending some time in the fall. But in the winter there is a double saving: the time to prepare the fruit and the money to buy it. And the benefits to the health and pleasure of the household are invaluable. Especially, if apples from the subsidiary farm.

Video: how to freeze apples