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.
Freezer Jam:
https://southernbite.com/easy-strawberry-freezer-jam/
It’s not shelf stable, but it will keep in the fridge for 3 weeks or in the freezer for a year.
Dehydrate them. Dehydrated fruit makes for tasty and healthy snacks.
You can also pulverize them into powder after drying them and make your own sports drink mix!
Freeze them. During the off season thaw some in the microwave and put it warm on ice cream.
We freeze them and give away some
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.
Fruit wine or a melomel.
How about jam? It’ll last longer than berries.
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.
You can put them in the freezer for use in months when they don’t grow.
Jelly, jam, compote, syrups for juices, and liqueur are all long-lasting things you can make with them.
Juice, pie, jam. Pie being my favorite 😋😋
Alternatively brew them into a nice berry wine. You can take this recipe for skeeterpee (it’s fun to say lol) and add the berries in primary fermentation. I’ve got some mixed berry Skeeterpee finishing up right now and it is il really good from the small bit I’ve tasted
Get a tortoise and feed the berries to it 👍
(That’s what we do at our house)
Sell them at a Farmers Market? Donate them to a local homeless shelter or food bank?
or churches for donations
my mother in law has given a lot of produce from her garden to the different places that will take it. Hearing her recall the number of years and the amounts donated makes me happy. Just thinking of that is good medicine
I imagine spicy or sour berry-based sauces could go really well with things from salads to BBQ.
I like berries, especially frozen, in my water or lemonade.
Let neighbourhood kids know they’re welcome to eat from your garden, and you can teach them to weed while you help them pick.
Like the others: jam.
