# Supermarket frozen strawberries



## kk1224kelley (Feb 6, 2013)

Has anyone made a strawberry wine from the frozen strawberries in the frozen foods section of the grocery store? 
Thanks


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## dralarms (Feb 6, 2013)

Yes I have. Got 6.5 gallons clearing right now.


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## djrockinsteve (Feb 6, 2013)

Remove the greenery and slice up. If they have been frozen that's great. If you are referring to the heavily sugared containers watch your gravity.


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## kk1224kelley (Feb 6, 2013)

I was looking to get "archer farms organic frozen strawberry" sold at my local target. No sugar added. Jack Kellers website says that these frozen strawberries are picked at full ripeness unlike the "fresh strawberries" that he says are not picked at full ripe but turn a nice red by the time they reach the shelves for the customers. Basically he says get frozen over fresh at the grocery stores


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## kk1224kelley (Feb 6, 2013)

Dralarms. What brand of frozen fruit did you use and how much per pound
Thanks for sharing.


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## djrockinsteve (Feb 6, 2013)

Frozen is good as it helps break down the structure of the fruit making sugar get released easier. Be sure to use pectic enzyme for 12-24 hours prior to fermentation.


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## dralarms (Feb 6, 2013)

kk1224kelley said:


> Dralarms. What brand of frozen fruit did you use and how much per pound
> Thanks for sharing.



Got them at wall mart. Not sure of the brand. I bought 10 4 lb bags. Ate 2 or 3 pieces to make sure they were good, and put 1 gallon of water in a pot and got it hot, then input 2 bags in at a time and heated them until soft, strained out and put in bucket, started next 2 bags and put petic enzyme in the bucket on top of each layer. I've got a very deep red color and wonderful aroma.


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## Arne (Feb 8, 2013)

Around here some of the smaller grocery stores can get a 30 lb bucket of frozen strawberries. I have made it a couple of times, there are 20 lbs. of berries in the bucket and about 10 lb. of juice. First time I used the berries and the juice as a flavor pac at the end. To me it came out way to strawberry flavored. Lots of other people liked it that way, tho. Second time I just used the berries. That came out perfect to me. I now have 10 lb. of juice in the freezer and have a lead on another 10 lbs. Going to try that with a batch and see how it comes out. These are 5 gal. batches. Arne.


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## TahunaJR (Feb 8, 2013)

I bought a 96oz can of Vintners Harvest Strawberry. I am interested in making a 5-gallon batch. After researching older posts, a lot of them suggest buying a second can to make a decent 5-gallon batch. 

Could I substitute frozen strawberries instead? I read that the SG should not start out higher than 1.085. But, other than that, should I prepare the strawberries as above (heating them up and using the fruit and juice)? Perhaps 10#? Or do I just bite the bullet and get a second can? BTW, a can costs $40 if that weighs into the decision at all. 

Any additional guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Joe


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## novalou (Feb 8, 2013)

TahunaJR said:


> I bought a 96oz can of Vintners Harvest Strawberry. I am interested in making a 5-gallon batch. After researching older posts, a lot of them suggest buying a second can to make a decent 5-gallon batch.
> 
> Could I substitute frozen strawberries instead? I read that the SG should not start out higher than 1.085. But, other than that, should I prepare the strawberries as above (heating them up and using the fruit and juice)? Perhaps 10#? Or do I just bite the bullet and get a second can? BTW, a can costs $40 if that weighs into the decision at all.
> 
> ...



To make a decent 5 gallons with one can, you are looking at adding 10 lbs of strawberries.

Don't cook them, let them thaw, mash with a potato masher and put them into a nylon bag.


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## jswordy (Feb 8, 2013)

Mmmm... strawberry!







Keep some back. It gets better through the first year in the cellar, too. Salute!


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## Arne (Feb 13, 2013)

Yessir, Jim. Much better after a year, but it takes a bit of willpower to leave it alone for a year. LOL,Arne.


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## saramc (Feb 14, 2013)

Getting ready to make a 6.5 gallon batch(5gal yield at least) of strawberry mead using 18-20# berries and 15-18# honey, yeast choices are K1V-1116 which will take it dry versus Cotes de Blanc or D47 which should yield a residual sugar, and only needs to age for six months. Recipe from HBT, Group Strawberry Mead, and apparently the posted recipe has been made at BNektar Meadery, Strawberry Pizazz is the name, I think. But the results have been great. I think it is also on GotMead site.


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## BobR (Feb 14, 2013)

How do you get its red color? Mine has turned orange.


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## dralarms (Feb 15, 2013)

Red food coloring. I used it on one watch of mine.


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## BobR (Feb 15, 2013)

Would it take much for a gallon jug?


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## skyrat (Feb 17, 2013)

Generally speaking... Frozen berries are higher in sugar content and far better than store bought berries because they were picked fresh and would have spoiled in transit to your local market. IE: why they were frozen.

I grow my own and still freeze before making wine as it takes a few weeks to get enough to start a batch.

FYI ..Fresh bought berries (unless they are very local) will not have good sugar content (flavor for your wine). Sugar content in the berry can only be increased while on the vine through photosynthesis. 

Concerning color I have used red food coloring as well to fix the Orange finished color.

FWIW. Used some vanilla extract on a batch a while back to enhance the flavor. Now it goes in every batch.


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## Pumpkinman (Feb 17, 2013)

Hey Tim (skyrat)! Glad to see you here! Tim and I formed the Hudson Valley Wine and Homebrew club, Tim is an amazing resource for Fruit wines, among other things!


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## skyrat (Feb 17, 2013)

Hello Tom, Just joined up tonight. Crusin the fruit section. Looks like a good site. Talk soon.


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## BobR (Feb 17, 2013)

skyrat said:


> Generally speaking... Frozen berries are higher in sugar content and far better than store bought berries because they were picked fresh and would have spoiled in transit to your local market. IE: why they were frozen.



I am confused here, so when you are talking about frozen berries, you are not talking about store bought berries, but instead, berries that you might have purchased/grown that you then freeze before using? If you wanted a good bottle of strawberry wine, would you stay away from store bought berries altogether and just buy in season, locally grown berries?


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## dralarms (Feb 17, 2013)

No, what we are talking about is store bought frozen strawberries. Sometimes pre sliced , all I've seen already have the greens cut off as well. They are picked riper and flash frozen.


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## BobR (Feb 17, 2013)

So you would stay away from store bought/imported berries and just use the frozen? We bought some berries the other day just to eat and they tasted like cardboard. My gosh, I haven't tasted a REAL strawberry in so long.


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## dralarms (Feb 17, 2013)

No. We are talking about sliced frozen or whole frozen strawberries from the store


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## saramc (Feb 17, 2013)

BobR said:


> So you would stay away from store bought/imported berries and just use the frozen? We bought some berries the other day just to eat and they tasted like cardboard. My gosh, I haven't tasted a REAL strawberry in so long.



Correct, use frozen commercial berries for winemaking unless you have access to good fruit available during its season in your area. Typically any fruit available frozen at the store is a good choice for fermenting because it is picked at peak ripening times and almost all fruit is individually quick frozen(IQF) these days.


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## skyrat (Feb 17, 2013)

BobR... I am saying (Like Sara if I interpret her correctly) that the FROZEN berries you buy in your supermarket freezer are better to use than the "produce shelf" fresh berries any day of the year. FRESH look nice they were not picked ripe as they have to make their trip from farm to market and still be edible. A ripe berry would not survive the trip. Frozen Berries were picked ripe IE: higher sugar content and typically better flavor. 

I am fortunate enough to grow my own and only pick when they are fully ripe and then freeze until I have enough for whatever recipe is in the works be it wine or a SB/Rhubarb pie. When I am low on on my own I always turn to the grocers freezer.

Strawberries are easy to grow. I am having good success with Ft Laramie SB's as long as I can keep the chipmunks away. Solved that. Cat is earring her keep now.


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## BobR (Feb 17, 2013)

Thanks skyrat and sara, yeah that is what I was asking, if given the choice, would you pick store frozen over store fresh. I wish that I had my chipmunks back again. Had some around for years and they never bothered my grapes, but over the past two years the munks have left and the voles have over run the place and they have gotten into the grapes. Have no cats....too many coyotes, but along with a hawk, here is another one of my vole catchers.


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## skyrat (Feb 18, 2013)

That neat.... Good Pict.


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## Manda (Feb 18, 2013)

My hubby and I have made strawberry wine twice. We like a lot of fruit in our wine and use roughly 5 lbs a gallon. The first year we picked fresh strawberries, cut all the green off, crush them and then pressed them for juice. We ended up with a nice blush (almost orange in color) wine that was ready in 6 weeks and after backsweetened tasted like you just picked a strawberry off the vine. This year we went with frozen Aldi strawberries and made a 10 gallon batch. We crushed 53 lbs of strawberries let it sit with petic enzyme and sugar for a few days and then pitched yeast. It has a wonderful strong strawberry smell. At two weeks old right now it is a deep red color and smells divine. Half will be sweetened as is the other 5 gallons will get spit up and I will add chocolate to it. 2.5 gallons will be dry the other 2.5 semi-sweet.

Last year the pressed fruit was used to make a Skeeter Pee. Or what we called a Strawberry Citrus Splash as we added orange with the lemon. This year after I racked the wine out of the primary I added two 48 ounce cans of Riesling concentrate, sugar and a large bottle of real lemon. I ended up with about 12 gallons. I will be splitting that up and ageing it with different tannins as an experiment.


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## BobR (Feb 18, 2013)

Hi Manda,

Yeah, I just hope that my strawberry turns out to be drinkable. Is it correct that you used 53 pounds of frozen strawberries to make 10 gallons of wine? Did you get everthing from Aldi? Do you think that they are cheaper than Wal-mart?

Off topic, I watched a show about the old train station in Mattoon and how it's now a museum. Have you ever been there and would it be worth a 2 hour drive to see?


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## Manda (Feb 18, 2013)

They were $2 a pound at Aldi which is the same price I paid for them the year before when they were fresh picked (but I threw a lot away when I trimmed stems off). At least in my area Aldi seems to have cheaper frozen fruit. 

Yes I used 53lbs for 10 gallons. I like strawberry with 5 lbs per gallon I think it makes a more flavorful wine. 

The train station isn’t too far from where I live it is a very beautiful building from the outside. The inside is okay, I haven’t ever actually been to the museum part of it. But from personal preference I don’t get that excited about trains. Depending on which way you would be coming from there are several nice wineries around (most 30-40 minutes away).


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## BobR (Feb 18, 2013)

Manda,

I would be coming from the Springfield area and through Decatur. Have never been to any wineries in that area. My daughter graduated from EIU four years ago, but whenever over there, I never gave any thought to locating area wineries. Any good ones? I'll have to check with Aldi's in Springfield, or Lincoln to see what they have. Thanks for the info!


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## Manda (Feb 18, 2013)

Bob,

http://www.catchwine.com/wineries/illinois/niemerg_family_winery/
http://www.catchwine.com/wineries/illinois/willow_ridge_vineyards_and_winery/

Anther winery is closer to Effingham but if you (or a family member) likes sweet wine I highly recommend is (actually if sweet is a preference I would recommend the next over the other two):
http://www.catchwine.com/wineries/illinois/vahling_vineyards/


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## BobR (Feb 18, 2013)

Thanks Manda!
I have not heard of the first two listed, but I have heard of and have had Vahling's Concord wine. I've never been down there, but he attends a lot of Springfield wine tasting events. In fact he should be back at the State fairgrounds on March 2-3 for the Illinois Product Show. Usually a good number of wineries show up for that event and last year, a couple of local breweries showed up. It's a good event, but over the last few years, it has really become crowded....free food samples along with beer and wine tasting brings 'em all out. I didn't see a wine list for Niemerg, do you know what they have?


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## Manda (Feb 18, 2013)

They have a pretty good selection of wines. They are downtown so they bring in a lot of Californa grapes. They do a very nice dry Cab. I tend to drink that or go to their sweet wines I enjoy their blackberry and blueberry port, my hubby enjoys their raspberry port and we both are loving their limited addition Winter Delight which is their raspberry wine with chocolate. Very good. Really super guys that own it.


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