Supermarket frozen strawberries

[dralarms]

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.

 

[BobR]

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.

 

[dralarms]

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

 

[saramc]

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.

 

[skyrat]

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.

 

[BobR]

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.

 

[skyrat]

That neat.... Good Pict.

 

[Manda]

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.

 

[BobR]

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?

 

[Manda]

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).

 

[BobR]

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!

 

[Manda]

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/

 

[BobR]

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?

 

[Manda]

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.