1. Select strawberries:
Choose firm, ripe red berries with a slightly tart flavor
Allow about 1½ quarts fresh strawberries for each quart to be
frozen
2. Prepare strawberries:
Wash berries in cold water; drain well
Remove hulls
3. Pack into rigid freezer containers:
To pack in sirup--
Prepare ahead of time a 50 percent sirup by dissolving 4¾ cups
sugar in 4 cups of water; this will make 6½ cups sirup
Add about ½ cup sirup to each container
Put berries into prepared containers
To pack in sugar--
Add ¾ cup sugar to each quart berries
Mix gently until sugar is dissolved and juice is drawn from
berries
Pack strawberries with juice in containers
To pack unsweetened--
Put berries into containers
For better color, cover with cold water containing 1 teaspoon
ascorbic acid per quart of water
For all packs--
Press fruit gently down in each container; add liquid (sirup,
juice, or water) to cover fruit, unless fruit is packed dry,
unsweetened
Leave recommended amount of headspace (See earlier reference)
Put a small piece of crumpled waxed paper on top of berries to
keep them down in liquid
Wipe all liquid from top and sides of containers
Seal tightly with lid
Label with name of fruit, type of pack, and date of freezing
4. Freeze strawberries:
Immediately after packaging, place berries in freezer set at 0° F
or below; leave space around each container for faster
freezing
Do not freeze more than 1 quart of berries per cubic foot of
freezer capacity at a time
Stack containers of berries once frozen; store at 0° or below