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Prudent Pantry: Freezing Strawberries
I still have strawberries coming in from my garden.
Strawberries
As much as I enjoy strawberry jam I only want to have so many jars in the pantry for consumption and gifts!
Strawberry Jam
We’ve been enjoying the strawberries for dessert and for breakfast and I still have some left. What to do? I decided to freeze a few bags. How wonderful it is to enjoy the fresh taste of strawberries in the middle of winter. One of my mother’s famous desserts is a homemade pound cake with strawberries!
Berries are so easy to freeze. Wash, core, and slice, cut in half or freeze whole.
Coring strawberries
Sweeten to taste with honey or a little sugar. To freeze sweetened strawberries first slice the berries into a bowl, then toss gently with honey syrup or sugar and pack into your freezer container or bag.
To freeze whole strawberries, simply place them on a baking sheet and freeze until hard. This was the method I decided to use.
Place berries on a cookie sheet.
Frozen strawberries.
Then transfer the berries to freezer bags.
Sealing strawberries with a FoodSaver.
Once my strawberries were frozen solid I used my food sealer to keep them as fresh as possible.
Ready for the freezer!
If I didn’t have 12 meat birds coming in a few weeks to fill my freezer I think I would freeze more strawberries!
Linked to: LauraWilliamsMusings
Recipe Box: Wild Strawberry Spice Muffins
Every year our fields are full of wild strawberries.
Wild Field Strawberries
They are tiny but full of flavor.
Tiny Strawberries
However it takes a lot of time to pick a cup or two, which is generally what you need to make muffins. Our pug, Purtie, used to spend hours grazing eating every little strawberry she could find.
Purtie, our beloved pug.
We sure miss her but we are able to find a lot more strawberries this year. My husband was sweet enough to spend some time and picked me a full cup of strawberries.
Cup of prepared berries
In exchange I made him a batch of his favorite muffins. I’m sure they would be wonderful with blueberries or regular strawberries but we just love them made with the wild strawberries.
Wild Strawberry Spice Muffins
1 ¾ cup flour
½ cup sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup milk
1/3 cup butter
1 cup wild strawberries
Topping (optional)
1 Tbsp sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Combine the egg and milk. Add the egg mixture and butter to the dry ingredients; stir just until moistened. Fold in the strawberries.
Gently fold in strawberries
Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
Muffin tin filled two-thirds full.
Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Makes 1 dozen.
Enjoy!
Wild Strawberry Spice Muffin
Linked to: DesignsByGollum, NotYourOrdinaryRecipes, SimplySweetHome, HomeMaidSimple, AnnKroeker, MomTrends, SimpleLivingDianeBalch, ComfyInTheKitchen, JulieJewels1, AtThePicketFence, Stuff-and-Nonsense, 21stCenturyHousewife, Alli-n-Son, LilSurbanHomestead, Sweet-as-Sugar, CountryMommaCooks, SixSistersStuff, NaturalMothersNetwork, TheMorrisTribe, MyFavoriteFinds, MakeAheadMealsForBusyMoms, theBetterMom, RaisingArrows, DelightfullyDowling, MrsHappyHomemaker, MamalDiane, YummyInspirations, OurDelightfulHome, Nap-TimeCreations, BlessedWithGrace, MandysRecipeBox, InsideBruCrew, 33ShadesofGreen, Mamaldiane, CrazyForCrust, ItsABlogParty, PreMediatedLeftovers, RaisingHomemakers, iBlog4Me, TheKingsCourt, GingerSnapCrafts, Earning-My-Cape, BizzyBakes, DJsSugarShack, FrugalFollies, MizHelensCountryCottage, ALittleNosh, ThesePeasTasteFunny, AGlimpseInside, SomethingSwanky, AllieMakes, DelightfulOrder, Kadie-SevenAlive, LifeAsMom, GodsGrowingGarden, TheCountryCook, TwoMaidsaMilking
