Frozen Strawberries in Syrup

Freezing expert and author Justine Pattison shows us how to freeze strawberries in syrup: “This is a great way to make a delicious strawberry sauce for ice cream sundaes and for topping cheesecakes, pancakes, waffles and panna cotta. As well as creating a fuss-free dessert served simply with cream or ice cream.”

How to freeze:

1. Put your freezer setting onto Fast Freeze at least two hours before adding the strawberries or clear some space in the rapid freezing section/coldest part of your freezer. Freezing the strawberries quickly will help them retain as much of the flavour and texture as possible.
2. For every 250g strawberries that you are freezing, put 150g caster sugar and 50ml water in a saucepan.
3. Heat gently, stirring regularly, until the sugar dissolves then increase the heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for 1 minute then remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.
4. Wash your strawberries lightly by placing in a colander and rinsing under the cold tap for a few seconds.
5. Hull the strawberries by pinching out the green stalk end.
6. Put the strawberries in a rigid freezer-proof container with a lid until they come roughly 2/3 of the way up the sides.
7. Pour over the cooled syrup, leaving around 3cm headroom at the top of the container to allow for expansion.
8. At this point the strawberries will float towards the surface, so half fill a small freezer-bag with water and seal with a knot. Place on top of the strawberries so they remain submerged in the syrup.
9. Cover, label and freeze for up to 6 months. Fast freeze can be turned down once the strawberries are solid, this should take 2-3 hours.

How to defrost:

Defrost the strawberries in their container in the fridge overnight Defrosting slowly will help the strawberries remain firmer than quickly defrosting at room temperature. Warm through in a saucepan or serve cold.