How to properly freeze plums for the winter in the freezer: all freezing methods. How to properly freeze plums for the winter without pits, in sugar, syrup, whole, in the form of puree: recipes, benefits and basics

“Winter will pick up everything,” say experienced housewives. Indeed, in the cold season, when the fruits on store shelves resemble beautiful dummies rather than aromatic and healthy products, it is so nice to serve your own preparations on the table. Compotes and jams are made from fruits; they are good in the form of dried fruits, but one of the simple ways to preserve maximum vitamins and taste in them is to freeze them. This preparation can then be used for making drinks, filling for baked goods, and simply eaten fresh in winter. There are several ways to freeze plums in the freezer for the winter.

Selection and preparation of plums

To make the preparation tasty in the winter, you need to carefully select the raw materials. The plum should be ripe, but not overripe, so the fruit slices will retain their correct shape and, after freezing, will not turn into an unappetizing mess. Unripe plums are not suitable for winter storage; they will not give the desired taste and aroma. Even greenish fruits cooked with sugar have a specific sour, astringent taste. The best varieties are considered to be those that have dense pulp, without excess wateriness and hard fibers:

Zarechnaya early;
July;
Souvenir of the East;
Empress;
Urogrka;
Giant.

You can freeze plums of any color and ripening period (early, late) for the winter, the main thing is that their structure meets the requirements. Large fruits are separated from the stone, and small ones are frozen in their original form. Before starting the preparation process, the plums are placed in a basin or bucket and filled with cold water. Leave for 5-10 minutes in water, and then carefully wash under running water. Some varieties have a characteristic waxy coating; you don’t need to try to get rid of it at all costs; just wash off the dust from the fruit, remove the stems, and then dry the plums well, scattering them on a clean litter in a draft or blotting them with a towel.

Attention! It is also important to sort through the plums stored for the winter and remove crushed, damaged or moldy fruits.

Preparing the product for freezing

Prunes must be washed in several waters. Before the fruits are soaked, they are sorted. Reject:

overripe;
unripe;
spoiled.

All raw materials can be sorted by size. Leave smaller fruits whole, chop larger ones.

The sorted fruits are poured with cold water and changed after 10 minutes. The water is drained again, the berries are placed in a colander, and rinsed with running water. When sent to the freezer, the plums must be dry, so after washing, they are thrown into a colander or scattered on a canvas to dry.

Plum, frozen with pit

Many housewives are interested in whether it is possible to freeze plums with pits? It is possible, there will be no negative consequences from this method.

This option for winter harvesting is simple, it is suitable for small fruits and those varieties in which the stone is tightly connected to the pulp and is difficult to separate. In the future, you can cook compotes, jelly from them, or simply eat them after defrosting them:

The washed, dried plum is placed in a freezer container or bag. You can’t add too much, otherwise the berries will become deformed. It's better to do it in layers.
After 12-24 hours, when the plum is well frozen, it can be “replenished” to a full capacity or put in a bag as much as is needed at one time. The fruits will no longer be able to stick together into a lump or wrinkle.

Plums frozen for the winter in this way can be stored until the next harvest.

Features of freezing plums for the winter

A properly frozen plum perfectly preserves not only its aroma and appetizing appearance, but also all the beneficial substances contained in the fruit.

To freeze it correctly, you must adhere to several basic rules:

You can freeze plums with or without pits, as well as in sugar, syrup or in vacuum packaging. In this way, you can preserve not only fresh fruits, but also prunes.
It should be frozen in small portions to make it convenient to use.
During pre-freezing, the fruits should be in a container or on a plate in one layer to avoid damage.

It is also recommended to remove the bags on the second day to completely remove any air from them, and then place them back in the freezer.

Preparing the product for freezing

Freezing plums, like prunes, is a simple matter. But it is very important to prepare the berries correctly. Only whole fruits should be selected; cracked or spoiled ones should be removed. You need to wash them thoroughly and then dry them. For freezing fruits, plastic bags with or without a slider (special fastener), as well as various food-grade plastic containers, are suitable.

Preparing the Freezer

The freezer compartment of the refrigerator where the berries will be stored should first be thoroughly washed and dried. Enough space should be left in it so that the fruit can be placed in one layer for the first few hours for initial freezing.

It is worth considering exactly where the product will be stored. There should be no foods with a strong smell, such as meat, fish or seafood, in the refrigerator near the drains.

Plum slices without pits

The method is suitable for large fruits in which the seed is well separated from the pulp. This kind of freezing makes an excellent filling for pies; it can be added to meat and fruit pilaf. The halves take up less space in the freezer, and you can prepare more plums for the winter:

cut the plum in a circle with a knife;
the halves are separated from the bone by hand;
Place on a tray or board and place in the freezer.

This way they will retain their shape. When the slices become hard, they can be packaged in containers or bags, as shown in the video.

If the plum has a thick skin, it is recommended to remove it before freezing to make the preparation for the winter more tender. To do this you need:

Place a pot of water on the stove and wait until it boils.
Prepare a second container with cold water or ice.
Make shallow notches at the top of each plum crosswise.
Dip 4-6 plums in boiling water for 30 seconds.
Remove with a slotted spoon and place in cold water for the same amount of time.

Starting from the cut area, it is now easy to remove the peel. If the fruits are tender, less time may be needed to boil. You shouldn’t throw a lot of drains at once, this will affect the quality of cleaning.

Frozen plum sprinkled with sugar

Plums frozen for the winter with sugar are intended for making compote, fruit puree, sweet sauces and baking fillings. As a result of contact of the pulp with sugar, juice is released. It is necessary to ensure that it does not leak; the bags must be whole, or better yet, double. Containers for freezing are chosen without holes.

The plums are washed, dried, and the skin is removed if necessary.
Separate the halves from the pit.
A layer of sugar is poured onto the bottom of the container so that the bottom does not show through.
Place the halves cut side up and sprinkle with sugar again.
This way you can make 3-4 layers, after which the container is placed in the freezer.

Advice! Do not cut the plums into small slices, because you will get a lot of juice, and the consistency will worsen after defrosting in winter.

Defrosting rules

If homemade preparations are used to make compote, then throw in the berries as soon as they are taken out of the freezer. In this form they can also be added to baked goods. To prepare purees or other purposes, defrost the plum by moving it from the freezer to the refrigerator.

IMPORTANT! You cannot use a microwave oven or immerse a bag or container with fruits frozen for the winter in hot water to speed up the process. This will cause them to soften, become watery and tasteless.

Plum frozen in syrup

One of the delicious ways to freeze plums for the winter takes longer than others, but the result is worth the effort.

Plums are prepared in the standard way.
Place into containers. There is no need to stuff them tightly into the bowl; the halves should lie loosely, and the syrup will expand as it hardens. It is optimal to leave 2-3 cm of free space on top.
For the syrup you will need 200 grams of sugar and 300 ml of water, citric acid on the tip of a knife. You need to cook it over low heat, stirring constantly so that the sugar does not burn. When the grains of sand are completely dissolved and the syrup itself acquires a yellowish tint, remove it from the heat and pour in the plums, previously laid out in a container for freezing.
The container is removed to cool for 2-3 hours, covered with lids and sent to the freezer.

Advice! Do not pour the syrup to the edges of the sides of the container; the plums will give juice and the liquid will overflow.

Plum puree

It can even be prepared from highly ripe fruits or varieties whose flesh is too tender to be frozen whole or in slices. The peel and pit of the prepared plums are removed, and the pulp is ground to a paste using a blender. If necessary, add sugar to taste.

It is convenient to freeze such a preparation for the winter in clean small jars of yogurt, silicone molds for baking muffins or cookies, and if you pour the puree into ice molds, then from several cubes poured with boiling water you get a quick and tasty drink.

Freezing plums in a vacuum

Vacuum packaging for the winter requires special bags and a vacuum sealer. The plum is washed, dried, the pit is removed or left as desired. The fruits are placed in a special bag in one layer and evenly distributed inside it, then the free edge of the bag is placed in a vacuum sealer and all air is removed from the bag with a device. If you don’t have such a unit at home, the drain can be perfectly vacuumed for the winter using a handy method, as in the video.

This method is good because during the winter the plum does not become saturated with extraneous aromas from the freezer or from nearby products. On the packaging you can use a marker to write the date of harvesting and the variety of fruit. In winter, it will be clear which fruits to use first. You can put not only whole plums, but also puree into bags for vacuum freezing. After thawing, such a plum, of course, will lose its shape and cannot be used to decorate dishes, but it is excellent as a raw material for filling pies or making compote.

Most often, plums are frozen for the winter according to classical schemes. But many housewives, in the process of preparing puree or syrup, add vanilla, cinnamon, change regular sugar to burnt sugar (this gives a delicate caramel-smoky aroma), and add other fruits or berries. They need to be stored in containers under a lid or in bags where moisture will not penetrate, otherwise the fermentation process may begin and the plums will be lost.

Comment! To cook compote, plums or puree are thrown into boiling water without defrosting; for other cases, care must be taken to pre-thaw the fruit.

How to freeze plums at home

Various recipes for preserving goodies for the winter can be found freely available on the Internet. Next we will talk about the most well-known methods.

With a bone

This is the least expensive method since there is no need to peel the berries. Washed and dried whole fresh plums should be laid out on a tray so that the berries hardly touch, then put in the freezer for several hours. This is done so that they do not become deformed when frozen.

After 3-4 hours, the plums are taken out and transferred to prepared containers or bags and returned to the freezer.

Seedless

If you are going to freeze seedless fruits, first wash them, dry them with a towel, and then remove the pit. The berries should be fresh and firm.

In this case, it is better to give preference to those varieties in which it is easily removed - the preparation process will go better and faster.

The fruit halves should be laid out in one layer on a plate, covered with cling film and placed in the freezer. They should sit in the freezer for 3-4 hours. The drains should be placed at a short distance from each other so that they do not touch.

Then the hardened fruits must be placed in bags or containers for freezing and sent to the freezer for long-term storage. It is preferable to freeze the fruits of the Hungarian variety.

Slices

You can also freeze it in slices. In this case, the fruits are also washed, dried, the pit is removed, and the pulp is cut into slices with a sharp knife so as not to cause damage. Next, the process is the same as for freezing pitted plums.

In sugar

There is also a way to freeze these berries in sugar. For such storage, you should wash the selected berries, let them dry or blot them with a towel to remove excess moisture.

A small number of slices or halves are placed in a container for freezing, and a small amount of sugar is added.

This is done until the container is completely loaded. For 1 kg of fruit you will need 200 grams of sugar or powdered sugar.

If you intend to store plums in the future in bags rather than in containers, then you should do this:

place the prepared fruits on a dish or tray so that they do not touch;
cover the berries with sugar or powder;
freeze the berries in the freezer for 3-4 hours;
after this time, transfer the frozen plums to the prepared dishes and return to the freezer;
Remove the frozen berries from the freezer, put them in bags and return them to the chamber for further storage.

In syrup

For this freezing option, not only selected, but also slightly overripe berries are suitable. First the syrup is made. To prepare it, you need to take 800 grams of sugar for every liter of water. If the berries are very sweet, then you can add one teaspoon of lemon juice to this amount of water and sugar. If the berries are not too sweet, then you can do without it. Bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring lightly until the sugar is completely dissolved.

The syrup should then be cooled. When it has cooled completely, you need to pour it over the prepared plums, placed in suitable containers, and put them in the freezer for storage.

It should be remembered that the plums do not need to be packed too tightly and the containers should not be filled to the very top, because the liquid will increase in volume when frozen. Properly frozen fruits will delight the whole family in the future.

In a vacuum

Dense and fleshy fruits are suitable for freezing, but in some methods even overripe berries can be used. In vacuum packaging, plums are also perfectly stored at low temperatures. To freeze fruits in this way, you need a special device - a vacuumizer. Plums are frozen and stored in special bags.