What to do with too many raspberries and strawberries?
What to do with too many raspberries and strawberries?
We planted both raspberries and strawberries over the last few years and are getting so many we can't eat them all. We give them away, but is there something better we can do with them?
Edit: thanks for all the great responses. I think we're going to freeze them.
You can just freeze them for smoothies. Everyone is saying jam and that’s a good idea but it’s a whole process and has to be sanitary. It’s not super hard, obviously, and it’s worth learning how to do but the first time can be a bit daunting and you really have to follow every step. A smoothie is easy.
Another pretty easy thing is to make ice cream and freeze it. A restaurant I cooked at had fig trees that would go nuts once a year and we’d have buckets of figs. We basically made vanilla ice cream and added figs. That was delicious and ice cream obviously freezes well.
As someone that cans, I'd never suggest a canning option to anyone but someone who has already canned. It's tiring! It's hot! It can be sticky!
Amazing end results if you like doing it though!
Raspberry jam is insanely easy to make. Equal weights of fruit and sugar, heat slowly to dissolve the sugar, then boil rapidly for five minutes. Bung in jars and screw the lids on while still hot.
The only sterile part is the jars - I put them in a lowish oven for ten minutes or so after washing them. Lids are washed, dried and swabbed with vinegar.
jam.
but if not jam you can go to any local big box store that does home appliances and almost always find a chest freezer for under 100 dollars. Throw the berries into 1 gallon bags and figure the rest out later. I promise you will find more uses for additional freezer space.
Juice, pie, jam. Pie being my favorite 😋😋
Sell them at a Farmers Market? Donate them to a local homeless shelter or food bank?
or churches for donations
my mother in law has given a lot of produce from her garden to the different places that will take it. Hearing her recall the number of years and the amounts donated makes me happy. Just thinking of that is good medicine
You can put them in the freezer for use in months when they don’t grow.
Jelly, jam, compote, syrups for juices, and liqueur are all long-lasting things you can make with them.
Like the others: jam.
Too many?
Fruit wine or a melomel.
I used to make raspberry wine. Super easy. Some raspberries, sugar, and yeast. Put it in a barrel, wait a while, get shitfaced.
It's definitely easy to do. If OP freezes them first then mashes them later it could help break down some of the sugars, but it's a good time, stays a while, and makes easy gift giving.
No such thing
If I had them, I'd process the strawberries by generously cutting the tops off (don't throw them away!) then putting them on a parchment lined sheet pan to freeze, then once frozen, into freezer safe bags. With the tops, make kvass. Put them in a pitcher with a lot of sugar and some spices, fill the pitcher with boiled and cooled water. Cover loosely with a towel and stir twice a day until fizzy. I have some in my fridge right now and it's delicious!
Jam.
Sorbet!
+1. Buy an ice cream maker and use these to make sorbet; you'll never have too many strawberries and raspberries again.
Freezer Jam:
https://southernbite.com/easy-strawberry-freezer-jam/
It's not shelf stable, but it will keep in the fridge for 3 weeks or in the freezer for a year.
I imagine spicy or sour berry-based sauces could go really well with things from salads to BBQ.
I like berries, especially frozen, in my water or lemonade.
Let neighbourhood kids know they're welcome to eat from your garden, and you can teach them to weed while you help them pick.
Get a tortoise and feed the berries to it 👍
(That's what we do at our house)
Jam? Jelly?
Alternatively brew them into a nice berry wine. You can take this recipe for skeeterpee (it's fun to say lol) and add the berries in primary fermentation. I've got some mixed berry Skeeterpee finishing up right now and it is really good from the small bit I've tasted
Yeah making jam is quite easy. Basically just add some sugar and pectin and put it on the stove until it's jam.
Otherwise, put them in the freezer.
Jams amd in plain yogurt to "pump it up"
Amd we freeze them for use on fresh made waffles later in the year.
Jam.
Making jam is not trivial but it I think that makes it rewarding! My dad has made jam and marmalade for as long as I've known and it's always an event. My parents have hundreds of jars (for some reason my dad calls them bottles? Only in a jam context though!) and every so often he cooks up a giant pot of jam with an old-fashioned sugar thermometer, testing the batch on a piece of baking paper, then bottling everything up. He often did it with my sister, who now also makes her own jam.
He labels all the jars, and we've opened jars that were... I dunno, a decade old I'm sure, and they were totally fine. So they will definitely keep for a long time!
Making jam is trivial.
You boil the fruit, and if it's not gummy enough, you add pectin.
Done, jam.
How much sugar do you add?
How long do you boil it for? (You don't know; you have to monitor the temperature)
How long does putting it all in jars take you? (ages)
It's not difficult, but it is time consuming and not trivial.
We freeze them and give away some
Strawberry shortcake for every meal
Me please
Freeze them. During the off season thaw some in the microwave and put it warm on ice cream.
Enlists them in the army.
Food fight!
Jam or give away to your neighbours.
could make juice, then make something with the pulp too