One of the symbols of summer - juicy watermelon, disappears from the shelves in mid-autumn. Lovers of this berry would not refuse to enjoy it in the cold season. The article will tell you whether the method of freezing food is now popular for storing watermelons.
Is it possible to freeze a watermelon for the winter?
Freezing food preserves more nutrients than preservation, and is a more natural way of long-term conservation due to the lack of additives (salt, acid). However, if you freeze the watermelon (like melon) and then simply thaw it, they will certainly be edible, but their flesh will radically change its structure.
Important! The purpose of freezing watermelon is to obtain raw materials for the manufacture of desserts (cocktails, ice cream, smoothies).
Instead of juicy and crunchy chunks, you get a watery mass, and in the case of melon - also with a bitter taste. That is why these representatives of the pumpkin family must be frozen in a special way.
How to choose and prepare a watermelon
First of all, you need to choose a quality berry and properly prepare it for freezing:
- Harvesting is started at the end of summer - in the fall, when the most sugary later varieties are ripened.
- Watermelon must be ripe. This is checked by tucking the skin with a fingernail (with a ripe berry it is difficult to leave) and light pressure on the skin (it bends a little and a crunch is heard).
- A well-known sign of ripeness: a sonorous sound when patting a watermelon with your palm, which is due to the presence of natural resonators in the pulp of a ripe watermelon.
- It is best to choose a medium-sized berry, not too large, but not small. Mandatory absence of damage to the peel.
- The presence of a yellow (or even orange) spot is small (5-10 cm), which indicates a good taste of the berry.
- Before freezing, watermelon must be thoroughly washed under running water and dried.
- Peel (including white layer) and seeds are removed with a sharp knife. Crusts can be used to make candied fruits, preserves, marinades and even fry.
- The watermelon is shaped according to the recipe: cut into cubes, balls or use a variety of silicone baking dishes, puree, squeeze the juice.
Did you know? In Japan, square watermelons are grown, which are very convenient to transport due to their shape. Farmers do without intervention in genetics: they simply place the berries in a special cubic form for ripening.
Fridge preparation
You can practically freeze a watermelon in any home refrigerator. Ideally, the freezer should have the function of shock freezing. In a special Super Frost pallet, the lowest temperature is set and after a few hours the products are laid out in it.After 2 hours in this mode, the watermelon is placed in a conventional freezer (at a temperature of –18 ° C). Before freezing, any freezer must be thoroughly washed, dried and ventilated to prevent the workpieces from absorbing odors.
How to freeze a watermelon for the winter at home: ways
Consider how to freeze a watermelon in order to get a high-quality semi-finished product.
Entirely in the freezer
As already mentioned, this method does not justify itself due to the high content of water in the watermelon. Frozen whole, this largest berry in nature, not only takes up too much space in the cell, but also thaws in an unattractive appearance when thawed, loses its juiciness and crisp structure, becoming watery. Whole watermelons are stored only in basements and cold storerooms.
Frozen Pulp Sliced
The easiest and fastest way. The most important thing is to choose an unripe watermelon with a fairly dense pulp. The berry is first cut into larger pieces, and then smaller. They can be shaped into cubes or, using a melon spoon (similar to an ice cream dispenser), form balls. The resulting pieces are laid out on a cutting board, covered with a food stretch film. Pieces should not touch to avoid sticking together.In the absence of a quick-freezing chamber, a board with watermelon slices is placed in an ordinary freezer for 12 hours. Then the frozen slices are taken out of the freezer, poured into a bag, tightly closed and returned. A little space is left at the top of the bag in case the slices expand during storage.
Important! Glassware is not suitable for storing watermelon pieces in the freezer, as the combination of high humidity and low temperatures will damage the container.
With sugar
When frozen, the berry loses its sweetness somewhat. Sweet tooth can add sugar to the workpiece. For 0.5 kg of watermelon slices, 200 g of sugar is usually taken. The slices are placed in a plastic container for freezing (a glass or container), sprinkled with sugar, covered with a lid and placed in the freezer.
Freezing watermelon juice
The easiest way to make juice is to use a blender, food processor or meat grinder. You can also put the pulp in a 2-3-layer cheesecloth, crush with a nibbler or a fork and squeeze the juice. Sugar is added to taste and poured into containers previously lined with a film. Frozen briquettes with fruit ice are placed in a bag. In the same way, preparations are made from watermelon puree.
Diced Syrup
Quite often, the berries are frozen, pre-filled with sugar syrup at room temperature. For syrup, 1 cup of sugar is mixed with 1 liter of water and boiled until completely dissolved. The syrup is not added to the top of the container with watermelon pulp, otherwise the expanded liquid will damage the container. Before closing the container with a lid, cover it with waterproof paper.
Frozen pulp in fruit juice
Sweet juices are suitable for this purpose: orange, pineapple, raspberry, apple. You can experiment with ginger ale. Watermelon pulp is placed in a storage container and poured with juice, not topping about 1.5 cm to the top. The pulp should be completely covered with juice.
Did you know? Sarepta-on-Volga is a former German colony, in the culinary traditions of which watermelon occupied a considerable place. From the juice, they made honey nardek (an indispensable ingredient of the famous Sarepta gingerbread, which can be stored for up to a year), and made a coffee drink from the seeds.
Storage time
The maximum shelf life of watermelon convenience foods in the freezer is 1 year. But it should be remembered that over time, a frozen watermelon loses its taste and if you want to really enjoy the taste of a sunny berry, it will be better to use the preparation in the first 2–4 months.
Features of defrosting and eating
The main rule when defrosting watermelon semi-finished products is gradualness. A microwave oven is absolutely not suitable for these purposes. First, the slices are put on a shelf in the refrigerator, and then thawing occurs at room temperature. Ice from watermelon juice is not thawed, but is immediately added to cocktails. In addition, ice is used in home cosmetology. Thawed food can be eaten for 2 days.
It is used for cooking:
- smoothie
- sorbet;
- punch;
- ice cream.