Since we're coming up on the end of summer, now is a great time to freeze as many berries as you can! Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries are my favorites, but you can use this technique to freeze any berry easily. :)

Up until a few years ago, I froze all my berries by just washing them and throwing them into a freezer bag, but I wasn't very excited about having to chip apart a berry ice cube whenever I needed berries. This way of freezing the berries keeps them from freezing together for easier measuring.

Step 1: What You'll Need:

parchment or wax paper
large colander
paper towels or old kitchen towels
baking sheets
a freezer with room
fresh berries of choice - today I'm doing blackberries, blueberries and raspberries

Step 2: Wash the Berries

Sort through the berries and discard any large stems and leave you can find, as well as get rid of the soft and questionable ones. We feed all the rejects to our worms. :D

Place them in a large colander or strainer and rinse them thoroughly.

Some important things to note:

If you're using strawberries, cut off the tops before washing.
Raspberries need quite a bit of care if want them to look great after washing because they're really fragile, so you may want to wash them carefully in small batches to avoid damage. Most other berries do just fine!

Step 3: (optional) Dry the Berries

If you'd like to avoid water crystals on the berries, dry them. I tend to skip this step if I'm going to be using them for smoothies. :P

Just lay down a couple paper towels or a cloth towel and place the berries on top and pat lightly.

Step 4: Put Them on the Baking Sheets

Lay down some parchment or wax paper on a couple baking sheets and spread the berries out over them. Try to keep them evenly spaced so they don't freeze together.

Step 5: Freeze and Store!

Pop the berries in the freezer for a couple hours, or until they're nice and solid. I place one cookie sheet into the freezer, and then put a cutting board across it so I can lay the other cookie sheet on top without squishing the berries.

Once they're solid, transfer them to a nice container or freezer bag and enjoy easily measurable frozen berries!