I've read some conflicting reports about these, but I really love making my morning smoothies from the frozen fruits I buy. It's a money saver and a time saver, especially since I don't have to pit the cherries myself!
Some people have written that these are rinsed in extremely high temperature water, which makes me nervous. I don't want my frozen fruit to be dead! Has anyone else heard about this?

I'm new so I'm going to be asking lots of questions for a while here, sorry for any duplicate questions! I'm trying to read up as much as possible.

They are blanched in boiling water. Very little damage, but not raw. I still use frozen berries. Can't afford the raw ones, can hardly afford the frozen ones, either. But I am addicted.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2008 02:46AM by arugula.

Try to get organic, if you can. Berries typically absorb a lot of the poisons that are sprayed....

Better to eat them non-raw than not at all!

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Damn! I've been so proud of myself with my smoothies I've been making from frozen fruits and veggies. Well I guess I will have to take another look at the budget and see if we can afford fresh everything.

If you can get them frsh I would do so.

I hear your concerns. Remember: What do YOU think is optimal? If fresh fruits and vegetables are optimal...why settle for second best....EVER? Wouldn't it better to eat nothing....and give the body a rest....then settle for second best? These are not admonitions from me....as I certainly support whatever choices YOU make. These are questions to ask yourself - obviously.

-Of course, if frozen, dehydrated....or otherwise processed items help you move closer to YOUR goals...then go for it!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

That's too bad to hear frozen berries are blanched! I eat a 12-oz. bag of frozen berries EVERY DAY! I do feel phenomenally better than pre-berry days,though, and more importantly it helps me get the GREENS down, that I know I need. And my son likes them too, so I figure accustoming him to their taste is vital if I want him to eat right later.

I plan on planting berries LOTS of berries this coming spring in our yard. There's probably some berry that will grow no matter where you live. Where do you live? I know raspberries, cherries, and blueberries grow very well in the northern climate where I live.

Angie


Me (30), Joseph (24 mo.) Jeremiah (4 mo.)

We are enjoying spring and being outside!!!

If you have the space in your freezer, a great thing to do is go to a u-pick berry place. I like to spend an afternoon picking, then come home with several gallons of blueberries. Wash them all, and put them in separate one quart freezer bags. Come midwinter they're great to have handy.

Are fruits really blanched before freezing? I thought I read that only veggies were blanched.

That is always been my understanding also GypsyArdor. If fruit is blanched before freezing (particular the berry varieties) turn to mush. I doubt that all frozen fruit is blanched.



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

I live in Phoenix, so we have tons of citrus that I can go pick pretty much anywhere I want. Angie I'm doing the same thing you're doing..even if it is blanched it gets me in the habit of eating a lot of fruit and I'm putting in more and more non frozen stuff every day.
We have a big stand up freezer that we used to store meat in. Since I gave all the meat away it's just sitting empty and unplugged but if I could find somewhere to pick berries and other things and freeze them I would definitely use it again. I will have to do some research on that because I really don't know.
Anyone else know about frozen fruit? I'm really confused now. Dave Mason you always seem to have answers, do you know if frozen fruit is blanched before freezing?

brenna the best way you can find out is to call or email the specific company you are buying the frozen from from and ask them if their process involves heat, how much and how long the produce is heated for etc.



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

I emailed the company I buy my frozen fruits and veggies from most often, which is Cascadian Farms and Muir Glen Organic. This is the response I got:

Thank you for contacting Small Planet Foods with your inquiry. All of our vegetables are blanched (heated at a high temperature in water) prior to freezing. The frozen fruit is rinsed during the processing of freezing. This does a very effective job of removing most bacteria and other field debris such as stems, leaves, etc. The freezing process along with the acidic nature of the fruit also effectively reduces or eliminates most bacteria. We also test our products and have never found any pathogenic E.coli. Individually Quick Frozen fruits are cleaned and quickly frozen. They are not blanched or heated during processing.

So I guess I have a go ahead on the fruit but I have to stop eating frozen peas and thinking they're raw. Thanks for all the input everyone

Thanks for this info brenna. I had just emailed Cascadian Farms with the same questions.



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