We planted both raspberries and strawberries over the last few years and are getting so many we can’t eat them all. We give them away, but is there something better we can do with them?

Edit: thanks for all the great responses. I think we’re going to freeze them.

  • Hanrahan@slrpnk.netEnglish
    3·
    9 hours ago

    Jams amd in plain yogurt to “pump it up”

    Amd we freeze them for use on fresh made waffles later in the year.

            • Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca
              1·
              4 hours ago

              This is true but less interesting to me because I once had a job in a bakery making blueberry muffins. I had 50 lb bags of frozen blueberries that upon opening, would emit large clouds of blueberry aroma. Day after day, thousands of pounds of blueberries, so much blueberry vapor. I grew to hate the smell. I begged to be put on some other kind of muffin, but nope, I was the youngest and therefore lowest status in the bakery. So I’m not really a fan of blueberries.

              Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
    5·
    12 hours ago

    If I had them, I’d process the strawberries by generously cutting the tops off (don’t throw them away!) then putting them on a parchment lined sheet pan to freeze, then once frozen, into freezer safe bags. With the tops, make kvass. Put them in a pitcher with a lot of sugar and some spices, fill the pitcher with boiled and cooled water. Cover loosely with a towel and stir twice a day until fizzy. I have some in my fridge right now and it’s delicious!

  • FishFace@lemmy.world
    4·
    11 hours ago

    Making jam is not trivial but it I think that makes it rewarding! My dad has made jam and marmalade for as long as I’ve known and it’s always an event. My parents have hundreds of jars (for some reason my dad calls them bottles? Only in a jam context though!) and every so often he cooks up a giant pot of jam with an old-fashioned sugar thermometer, testing the batch on a piece of baking paper, then bottling everything up. He often did it with my sister, who now also makes her own jam.

    He labels all the jars, and we’ve opened jars that were… I dunno, a decade old I’m sure, and they were totally fine. So they will definitely keep for a long time!

    • Krudler@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      7 hours ago

      Making jam is trivial.

      You boil the fruit, and if it’s not gummy enough, you add pectin.

      Done, jam.

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    16 hours ago

    You can just freeze them for smoothies. Everyone is saying jam and that’s a good idea but it’s a whole process and has to be sanitary. It’s not super hard, obviously, and it’s worth learning how to do but the first time can be a bit daunting and you really have to follow every step. A smoothie is easy.

    Another pretty easy thing is to make ice cream and freeze it. A restaurant I cooked at had fig trees that would go nuts once a year and we’d have buckets of figs. We basically made vanilla ice cream and added figs. That was delicious and ice cream obviously freezes well.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
    17·
    17 hours ago

    jam.

    but if not jam you can go to any local big box store that does home appliances and almost always find a chest freezer for under 100 dollars. Throw the berries into 1 gallon bags and figure the rest out later. I promise you will find more uses for additional freezer space.