How to freeze plums in the freezer

You can freeze plums in the freezer by simply putting the fruits for a day. However, after thawing, it may happen that an unpleasant-looking porridge is obtained from a tasty fruit. The problem lies in the violation of freezing technology. To avoid such a nuisance, you must strictly follow the recipe.

Preparing Plums for Freezing

In order to freeze plums in the freezer for the winter, and after thawing to get a whole product, the fruits are carefully prepared. The process involves sorting and removing the stalks.

To freeze successfully, adhere to the following rules:

• Only those plums that have a dense, tasty and non-watery pulp are suitable for the freezer.
• For the winter, only ripe fruits should be frozen. Unripe and overripe fruits cannot be frozen.
• It is best to freeze plums of those varieties whose fruits tolerate transportation. Such fresh fruits can be stored for a long time, and in the freezer they will not lose their quality.
• Juicy plum is better to feast on immediately. You can’t put it in the freezer. After defrosting, the pulp will become porridge.

If you managed to sort the fruits in compliance with these simple rules, then half of the way to harvest fruits for the winter has already been completed.

Is it possible to freeze plums

The advantage of freezing fruits for the winter is that they retain all natural vitamins and minerals. This also applies to plums. Preserved for the winter jams, compotes, drying, jellies occur with heat treatment. In addition to taste, the product is rich in nothing else. Partially, only a few useful substances remain. A frozen plum taken in winter after thawing is practically no different from a fresh fruit. The consistency of the pulp, of course, will change slightly, but the fruit will remain just as healthy and nutritious.

What properties are preserved when plums are frozen

Fresh plums are rich in vitamin C. Juice and pulp contain pectin, sugar. There are vitamins of group B, as well as A and PP. With shock freezing in the freezer, all substances are preserved. For the winter, a person completely provides himself with a natural vitamin product.

The benefits of frozen and fresh plums are the same:

• The fruit is an excellent laxative and diuretic.
• Recipes of folk healers recommend the use of thawed pulp for hypertensive patients, with liver and heart disease.
• A thawed product eaten on an empty stomach stimulates the appetite.
• In patients with jaundice, the fruit relieves yellowness.

The thawed product is quite suitable for diets, preparing baby food.

What varieties of plums are suitable for freezing

In the freezer for the winter, you can put a plum of any variety. It will freeze, but what will be the nutritional value after thawing. There are varieties that lend themselves best to shock freezing:

• Anna Shpet – late-ripening German variety. The dense dark blue flesh freezes well, but the small stone does not separate well. Such fruits are sent to the freezer as a whole.
• Grand Duke – large-fruited variety. The orange fruit weighs about 60 g. The stone does not separate well, but because of the fleshiness, the plum can be cut into slices and frozen for the winter.
• Greengage – best of all preserves commercial qualities in the freezer. The bone separates well. The product can be stored whole or in slices.
• prunes – a popular variety. The stone is perfectly separated from the dense pulp.

You can not freeze the fruits of the “Ekaterininskaya” variety because of the soft pulp. After thawing, they will become gruel. The Victoria variety can be frozen, but the specific taste will not improve after being in the freezer.

Do I need to wash plums before freezing?

The collected fruits are covered with a natural wax coating, to which a lot of dust adheres. Before sending the crop for storage for the winter in the freezer, it must be washed. Even if, after an unsuccessful freezing, the product becomes gruel, it will be clean and will be used to make puree or compote.

The plum is washed thoroughly 2 or 3 times. Clean fruits are laid out on a cloth to dry. The process can be speeded up by wiping with a paper towel.

How to freeze plums for the winter in the freezer

In order not to get confused with the varieties, it is better to freeze late-ripening plums for the winter. They are usually hard and can be stored for a long time. It is advisable to send fruit to the freezer immediately after purchase or collection from the tree. So that the whole product or slices do not freeze into a ball, they are frozen for a day in one layer on a pallet, and then packed in portions in bags.

There are many recipes. The best are those where the preservation of the fruit in slices or in its entirety is meant. Such a product does not lose its nutritional value. Freezing is needed only shock, in which the fruits are placed in a freezer with the maximum set low temperature.

Whoever is not satisfied with whole fruits, there are recipes where the pulp is processed into mashed potatoes, covered with sugar, poured with syrup. Taste qualities are improved due to additional ingredients, but the product loses its natural nutritional value.

How to freeze pitted plums

The easiest way to keep fresh for the winter is to freeze whole plums. The recipe is simple. After sorting and washing, fruits are dried on a cloth. Spread out in one layer on a tray, sent to the freezer. It is advisable not to allow the fruit to touch in order to prevent their freezing. When the pulp becomes “glassy”, they start packing in bags, sign the date with a marker, and leave it for further storage for the winter.

How to freeze a plum without a stone

The recipe for freezing without a stone gives vent to fantasy. The pulp can be cut into slices, slices, straws. If the stone separates well, then the fruit can be kept whole by removing the core through a small incision.

The pulp of the washed and dried plum is cut into pieces of the desired size. The prepared mass is laid out in one layer on a dish and sent to the freezer. Blast frozen pieces will become glassy after about 4 hours. Now the product can be packaged and sent for further storage.

Plum frozen with sugar

Sweet tooths will like the freezing recipe, where sugar is an additional ingredient. Its amount depends on the natural sweetness of the plum. Usually housewives use 1 part of sugar for 5 parts of prepared pulp. Whole plums are not frozen in this way. The product turns out to be a sticky lump. After defrosting, a sweet puree is practically obtained, where the bones will only interfere.

From the ingredients you will need:

• 5 kg plums;
• 1 kg of granulated sugar.

The freezing process consists of the following steps:

1. The pulp is cut into slices. It is better to give preference to slices.
2. Slices of plums are laid out in layers in a saucepan, sprinkled with sugar.
3. The entire contents of the container are gently mixed to crush the slices as little as possible.

Now it remains to pack the product in containers and send it to the freezer. You can save slices with sugar for the winter even in plastic bags.

Freezing plums for the winter in sugar syrup

The end product prepared according to this recipe resembles fresh plum jam without heat treatment. To remove the skin, the fruit will have to be immersed in boiling water for a short time, but it still remains fresh. However, after such actions, natural vitamins are partially lost.

Of the ingredients you will need:

• plums;
• water;
• sugar.

The syrup is prepared from 0,5 kg of sugar and 1 liter of water. It needs so much to completely cover the fruits laid out in the container.

In syrup, you can freeze the fruits with the skin, cut into slices. It is allowed to pour whole plums, after piercing the skin with a fork. If it is decided to cook only pure pulp in syrup, do the following steps:

1. The plum is immersed in boiling water for thirty seconds. The skin will crack and easily separate from the pulp.

   

2. The flesh is carefully cut with a sharp knife. Remove the bone.
3. Syrup is made from water and sugar. Cool it down to +6^оC.
4. Slices of plums are poured with chilled syrup so that it slightly covers them.

   

5. The finished mass is laid out in containers, covered with a lid, sent to the freezer.

After defrosting, a delicious, sugar-soaked fruit is obtained.

How to freeze plums for the winter in bags

The plastic bag is the most common freezer container. Plums can be folded whole with a stone or cut into slices. You can even pack mashed potatoes in packages. Whole fruit or slices are pre-frozen on a tray before being placed in a bag, only then they are packaged. Portions are calculated so that the thawed product is enough for a single use. Before placing in the freezer, air is removed from the bag with plums through a tube or a vacuum pump.

Freezing plums in a vacuum is considered a modern way. To do this, you need to have special packages and a device – a vacuum cleaner. The fruit is completely covered with a film without oxygen access.

How to freeze plum puree with sugar in the freezer

Soft, overripe, juicy and bursting plums should not be thrown away. They can also be frozen for the winter, only in the form of mashed potatoes. The process consists in removing the seeds and grinding the pulp into a pasty slurry. Sugar is added to taste. If the plums are very sweet, then it is not needed. You can grind with a meat grinder or blender. To prepare mashed potatoes without pieces of skin, the fruits are first poured over with boiling water and cleaned.

It is convenient to freeze plum puree by spreading it into silicone molds. When the mass becomes “glassy”, the figures are removed from the molds, packaged in bags, sent for further storage.

Freezing plums for the winter slices

The most convenient and popular method of freezing is considered slices. In winter, it is convenient to get a portion bag from the freezer, with fruits ready to eat. To freeze the slices, whole fruits are sorted, washed, and dried on a cloth.

After drying, each fruit is cut lengthwise with a knife, the stone is removed. The slices are laid out on a dish or tray with dimples up, sent to the freezer. After about 4-7 hours, the pulp will become “glassy”. Slices are packaged in bags or containers, sent for further storage in the freezer.

The freezing process is shown in the video at the end of the article.

What to cook with frozen plums

Before you cook something from frozen foods, they must be properly thawed. If the ingredient is needed for cooking compote, then it can be thrown directly from the freezer into boiling water. For all other dishes requiring the preservation of the whole fruit, use slow defrosting. The plums are left to thaw in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.

The slices are great for pie filling. A bottom is rolled out of the yeast dough, thawed plums are laid out, sugar and pieces of butter are added. The top is also covered with dough, and the edges are sealed. The cake is baked in the oven at 210^оC until golden brown.

Frozen plum puree can be used to make delicious marmalade. The mass is boiled until thick, until it begins to lag behind the bottom of the pan. The boiled puree will decrease by about half. Marmalade is given time to harden, cut into pieces, sprinkled with sugar.

Conclusion

Freezing a plum for the winter, if there is a chest freezer at home, is not difficult. It is only necessary to follow the technology and properly prepare the ingredients.