As you wash and dry your berries, take the opportunity to remove any rotten, under-ripe, or damaged berries. You’ll also want to remove any leaf litter, dirt, or other debris.
If you have too many blackberries to give each their own space on your baking tray, it’s alright to simply pour them all over the tray. However, if you want separate, individual blackberries later, you’ll have to break up the frozen block of berries that you’ll get from this method. If you’ve got lots of berries that you want to keep separate, an even better idea is to lay down a second layer of parchment paper over the top of your first layer of berries to double your working space.
If you own a vacuum-sealing device (like, for instance, the FoodSaver), use it here to remove the air from your bag for the absolute best possible protection against freezer burn. Alternatively, if you’re not worried about your berries freezing together, you can skip the baking sheet altogether and simply place the washed and dried berries into a freezer bag directly. If you do this, the berries will freeze together into a large block, which can hurt their visual presentation, but shouldn’t effect their taste.
As a general rule, you shouldn’t thaw berries before using them in baking recipes, as this can throw off their moisture content. [3] X Research source For more information on using frozen berries, see the corresponding section below.
As above, you’ll also want to remove any unripe or overripe berries before proceeding, as well as any leaf matter or debris.
You can also use plastic freezer bags as described above, though, with sweetened berries, this can become somewhat messy. There’s no need to freeze sweetened blackberries separately, since the sugar helps protect their appearance and texture from the effects of freezing. However, if you especially want separately-frozen berries, you can still use the baking sheet method described above without harming the berries.
Because of this point, you may find that it’s a wise idea to label your freezing container with a volume of berries in the container and the amount of sugar added along with the date of freezing.
Some people find that thawing their berries about halfway in the microwave before baking produces great-tasting results without adding too much moisture. [7] X Research source If you want to try this, note that the exact amount of time you’ll need to keep your berries in the microwave for will vary based on the number of berries you have and the power of your microwave.
To keep the bag of blackberries from floating and thawing unevenly, you may want to weigh it down with a heavy dish or bowl.
Don’t be put off by the soft, juicy appearance of thawed blackberries. Though they may not look as pristine as fresh berries, if they were fresh when they were frozen, they’re safe to eat.
