For the most part, you can freeze your fruit raw or cooked, depending on your intended use. You’ll never preserve the texture of fresh, but they will be good for smoothies, bakes and cakes.
Bananas
Peel and slice them before laying them on a lined baking tray. Freeze before bagging or boxing. Perfect for throwing straight into a smoothie or blending into a vegan ice cream substitute. Defrost to add to banana bread.
Berries, stone fruits, apples, pears, pineapples, grapes, melon, kiwis
Peel, trim, destone and slice or dice anything that needs prepping first. Lay on a tray and freeze first before boxing or bagging. You can make them into sorbets or smoothies by blitzing straight from the freezer. Or, they can all be cooked down into a simple compote before freezing if you prefer, maybe with a little sugar to sweeten and a pinch of appropriate spice. Cool completely before freezing.
Rhubarb and gooseberries
These are best cooked before freezing as they are too sharp to use in their raw form. Stew them down with some sugar until softened and to your liking. Don’t sweeten them too much as the sharpness is part of their charm.
Citrus
It is infinitely useful to have a squeeze of citrus to hand to lift a dish or for an emergency G&T. You can cut lemons, lime and oranges into wedges and freeze them. Remove them an hour before you need them. Alternatively, you can zest and juice them and freeze the two separately.
Read Bob’s tips for how to freeze veg.
During the first Covid lockdown, when I wanted to shop less often, and was aware that there could be shortages, I got into the habit of zesting oranges that I was about to eat, and lemons that I was about to squeeze. I used a quick and easy zester, then open-froze the zest on a plate or small chopping board, before adding it to little tubs to keep in the freezer, ready for any time when I wanted to give dishes a little extra lift. It’s a sort of ‘free’ seasoning!
(I also discovered fairly recently, that root ginger can be frozen. Cut into usable pieces – ‘thumb’ sized, for instance – and pop into a small tub or plastic bag, then into freezer. When you need it, chop or grate from frozen – it’s much easier to manage when it’s still firm!)