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Apricot is a sunny summer fruit packed with a lot of vitamins. You can save the harvested crop for the winter by drying or jam. However, in this form, the fruits will only go for compote or baking. In addition, during processing, the fruit partially loses its beneficial properties. To preserve the original taste and all vitamins to the maximum, freezing apricots in the freezer helps.
Can apricots be frozen?
Each housewife has accumulated a lot of recipes for harvesting apricots for the winter, and all of them are related to processing. It `s naturally. Previously, household refrigerators were produced with small freezers, where practically nothing could fit. There was not even a thought about freezing fruits. Jam was made from apricots, covered with slices, boiled with syrup, mashed potatoes. Heat treatment does not completely destroy vitamins, but the natural taste of the fresh fruit is lost.
With the advent of household chest freezers, freezing fruits has become popular among housewives. This method of winter harvesting began to replace traditional conservation. The frozen fruit fully retains its useful properties and taste. However, not all fruits can be frozen. As for apricots, there are some nuances here.
You can freeze the fruits. It is only important to observe the technology of the process. Sometimes housewives complain that frozen apricots begin to darken when stored in the refrigerator. This is due to fermentation. The darkened pulp loses its attractive edible appearance, taste, and also vitamin C. After defrosting, the fruit loses its shape, the pulp turns into gruel. The reason lies in the slow freezing.
Useful properties of frozen apricots
If the hostess just wants to make winter harvesting, then the apricots can be traditionally preserved according to your favorite recipe. When it comes to the healing properties of the fruit, it is only possible to freeze the nutrients in full.
Traditional healers use fresh apricot fruits to prevent vitamin deficiency, treat anemia, and the cardiovascular system. The fruit is useful for people trying to lose weight, since 100 g of pulp contains only 45 Kcal. Low calorie content, antioxidant and vitamin complex accelerate fat burning. Apricot is also known as an excellent cholesterol remover. The fruit is useful for people who have a problem with the digestive system. Fresh fruits in the amount of 100 g are taken daily instead of a laxative.
Freezing keeps fruits fresh until next season. A person suffering from one of the ailments gets the opportunity to use apricots for medicinal purposes all year round.
The essence of the simplest freezing of apricots
To find out if apricots can be frozen in a home refrigerator, you need to study its technical characteristics. The freezer must produce a temperature of at least -18aboutC. In such conditions, the fruits can be stored for 1 year.
The essence of freezing itself is as follows;
- The fruits are plucked from the tree so that the pulp is not crushed. They are well washed, smoothed in one layer to dry.
- Apricots cut into slices in order to keep the shape to the maximum after defrosting. However, you can chop the pulp into cubes, straws.The shape depends on the preferences of the hostess.
- The prepared fruits are laid out in one layer on a tray, loaded into the freezer.
- When the slices become "glass", they are folded into plastic bags, tied tightly, placed in storage.
Each frozen package is signed. They usually set a date to navigate the shelf life.
The choice of fruits for freezing and features of the process
So that the work is not in vain, only ripe apricots are used to obtain a quality product. Ripe fruit contains many vitamins, but it should not be overripe. The best is considered to be a bright orange apricot with a slightly elastic pulp and a well-separating stone.
You cannot pick fruits from the ground. There will be a lot of dents on them. The apricot skin must be clean without scab, red spots and mechanical damage.
The peculiarities of freezing apricots have already been mentioned. Fruits are capable of darkening, creeping into gruel after defrosting. Shock freezing helps to avoid this trouble. The process is based on a sharp immersion of the prepared mass into the lowest possible temperature. In production, this is done at -50aboutC. Modern household freezers give a maximum of -24aboutC. This is also sufficient for high-quality preservation of the crop for 1-2 seasons.
Fruits are frozen not only in slices or cubes. They make raw mashed potatoes, with or without added sugar. There are even new recipes for making syrup.
Packages, food plastic trays act as containers for storing slices. It is advisable to sort in such volumes that are necessary for a single use. The re-defrosted product is not sent to the freezer.
For apricot puree, use portioned cups. Immediately after filling, the container is placed in the freezer. During storage, cups with mashed potatoes are closed with lids or a plastic bag is pulled.
Frozen Apricot Recipes
Four common recipes are commonly used to freeze apricots for the winter.
Puree
Ingredients for making puree:
- ripe fruits - 3 kg;
- sugar depends on the taste and sweetness of the fruit - usually from 1 to 2 kg;
- citric acid - 6 g.
Sugar is not a preservative. Its amount only changes the taste, but does not affect the safety of the product. The process of making mashed potatoes consists of the following steps:
- The fruits are washed well with clean water, divided into halves, and the seeds are removed. The damaged pulp and skin are cut with a knife.
- For grinding, choose the household appliances available at home: a food processor, a blender, an electric meat grinder. In the latter version, mashed potatoes can turn out with grains of pulp.
- The resulting gruel is seasoned with sugar, citric acid is added. The puree is left to stand for about 20 minutes to dissolve the sugar.
- The finished mixture is put on fire, brought to a boil and cooked for five minutes. It is important to stir the apricot puree often, otherwise it will burn.
After cooling, the finished product is packed in cups or other containers, placed in the freezer.
The hostess can turn on her imagination and pour the puree into beautiful molds. You will get ice patterned candies or just cubes.
Whole frozen
Whole frozen means any form of pitted fruit. In winter, apricots can be taken out for making compote, eaten fresh, and decorated with cakes. Sometimes housewives try to freeze the whole fruit along with the bone. There is nothing dangerous in this, just no benefit from it. The bone will have to be thrown away anyway.It will not preserve the integrity of the fruit if the freezing technology is violated.
The process begins with the harvesting of ripe, hard fruits. Apricots are washed well, dried on a cloth, cut in half and pitted. The halves are laid out in one layer on a tray. Can be sprayed with a solution of lemon juice and water. The tray is placed in the freezer, turned on at the lowest possible temperature. After freezing, the slices are packed into containers and sent for long-term storage.
In syrup
A new and unusual recipe was invented by the hostess to freeze slices in syrup. In the future, the finished product is usually used for filling pies. The syrup is obtained naturally from sugar and fruit juice. The slices are not boiled.
Cooking begins traditionally with washing the fruit, drying it on a cloth, and removing the seeds. The finished halves are laid out in layers in a saucepan, lightly sprinkled with sugar, left until the syrup appears. The finished mass is laid out on trays, sent to freeze.
Mashed potatoes with sugar
The recipe resembles the preparation of mashed potatoes, only without heat treatment. The method allows you to preserve all the nutrients to the maximum. The prepared fruits are divided into slices, the stone is removed. Grind the pulp on mashed potatoes, add 1 tbsp. l. lemon juice. Sugar is added to taste. The finished mass is packed in cups, sent to freeze.
The video tells about freezing apricots:
Conclusion
Apricots can be frozen in slices or puree along with other berries and fruits. It all depends on personal preference. It is better to defrost in the refrigerator at a temperature of +2aboutC. Slow process will keep the shape of the lobules.
