Where I live RASPBERRY SEASON usually starts about the 3rd week in June and lasts approximately 2 weeks.
This year June has been a very busy month for us and it's not over yet!
We don't have a lot of time to put into raspberries this year but we don't want to miss out on their goodness so we are picking and flash freezing them and then bagging them up. I am excited about the options flash frozen raspberries will give us throughout the year.
Typically I use my strawberry freezer jam recipe and make raspberry freezer jam. This year I have begun making smoothies and I am excited to be able to add unsweetened raspberries to them. We also like to eat pancakes and waffles for breakfast. Frozen raspberries can quickly be made into syrup or just set out to thaw and used as toppings... We love fruit and whipped cream on our waffles!
Frozen berries also give us the option of quickly whipping up a couple batches of freezer jam when we want too.
I have come to love the versatility of frozen berries!
The raspberries ripen over a couple of weeks and flash freezing them allows you to collect them over a period of time. Freezing them is helpful for someone who wants to process all of them one time and be done. It's also good for those with small patches who might need to collect fruit over time to have enough to work with. I have a friend who is collecting her berries to make a pie for a granddaughter. Whatever your reason, flash freezing is a great way to preserve fruit and vegetables to use in small amounts for smoothies or to be able to process all the fruit at one time and be done.
As far as flash freezing prep goes I sprayed the berry patch with water before we picked them. After they were picked we soaked the berries in a baking soda water solution before delicately rinsing them and letting them drain well. Finally the berries were laid on a cookie tray lined with a silicone mat. The mat makes it easy to remove and bag the frozen berries.
Once they have begun to ripen they can be picked everyday. We picked this morning. This evening I went out again and saw oodles more that could be picked... Maybe they got missed or maybe they ripened in just a few hours... I am just not sure.
These raspberries are planted between a fence and a road. It's a 4' by approx. 25' strip of mature raspberries plants.
It's not ideal... Especially not for picking but you take what you can get when space is limited. I've tied up the canes as best I could and cut off any canes hanging down over into the road.
