Eat Summer Fruit All Year Long

It's actually possible to get summer fruit all year long, as well as winter fruit in the summertime. This is possible because much of our fruit comes from other countries, or is grown domestically in hot houses. However, if you're like me and like to buy local, or at least domestically, freezing is a great alternative. I first started freezing grapes about 30 years ago. Not because I wanted grapes so much in the off season, but they were a healthy snack. Frozen grapes are just delicious. Later on, when my neighbor had more persimmons than she knew what to do with and started giving them to me, I froze persimmons. I halved them, removed the core, and placed each half in a separate freezer bag. I love persimmons, so this was the perfect snack for me. I would have dozens of persimmons in my freezer by the time the season was over (november), and eat them for months. Now I freeze a variety of other fruits, which I use for snacks or for cooking. The easiest to freeze are blueberries. Wash, dry and place on a cookie sheet. Place in freezer until frozen, then pour them into a freezer bag, date, and you've got blueberries as you need them, for months. I recently talked to a friend that loves frozen cherries, and here's what she does. She pits them, puts them on a cookie sheet, the same way I did the blueberries, and when they're frozen, pops them in a freezer bag. A great snack, or use in smoothies. Strawberries, boysenberries and raspberries require the addition of a little sugar. (I don't know why, but they just hold up better). Wash and hull the berries, dry them, then add a bit of sugar and mix until the sugar is dissolved. Then place on cookie tray, freeze, and transfer to a freezer bag. Fruits like pears and apples, which I really see a reason to freeze as they're available locally almost all year, require the addition of ascorbic acid to the cut fruit. Either dissolve some lemon juice in water to make a dipping mixture, or take ascorbic acid pills, crush and add to water. Or buy FreshFruit, a commercial mixture to prevent browning. Dip cut fruit in the liquid, dry, freeze on cookie sheets and transfer to bags. Finally, bananas. The only reason to freeze bananas is this. You buy a big bunch at the 99cent store and can't possibly use them. You buy them because they're cheaper than the regular markets, but you can't use them up before they go brown. Place the unpeeled bananas in the freezer. They're great for smoothies. Nothing needs to go to waste these days. So enjoy our summer fruit all year long. And, if you're lucky enough to know someone with a persimmon tree, freeze them too. They're delicious.