What to do with 4lb of unfrozen strawberries

October 20, 2013 9:05 AM

In an attempt to clear up freezer space, I took out a 4lb bag of frozen strawberries, and promptly forgot about them. I left them on the counter for a few hours, now they're thawed. The bag was a bit leaky, so I put them in a ziplock bag and put them in the refrigerator. Question 1) are they still OK to eat or use in a recipe, and if they are still OK, 2) what do I do with 4lb of unfrozen strawberries? Thanks!
posted by filthy light thief to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

The strawberries are fine to eat. I'd put most of them in baked goods, like muffins or a cake, to prolong their life a bit. I would make a smoothie with some of them too.
posted by studioaudience at 9:16 AM on October 20, 2013

Make a berry crisp with some of them? Four pounds is a lot, but if you mixed them with some frozen blueberries or cherries and made a crisp - well, fruit bakes down a lot, and I always seem to wish my crisps had more fruit in them.
posted by Frowner at 9:17 AM on October 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

You can refreeze them. The texture will be off, but they will be fine for smoothies. Spread them out on a cookie sheet so they're not one big solid lump.
posted by valeries at 9:19 AM on October 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

Strawberry Jam, of course.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:24 AM on October 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

Or just dry 'em! Silicone sheets in the dehydrator...
posted by straw at 9:31 AM on October 20, 2013

If you have an ice cream maker, puree them and make strawberry sorbet from the puree.
posted by gimonca at 9:35 AM on October 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

strawberry pie. oooh, or straberry hand pies!
posted by misanthropicsarah at 9:45 AM on October 20, 2013

Make strawberry sour cream ice cream! Or some strawberry cake!
posted by Stephanie Duy at 9:51 AM on October 20, 2013

I was going to suggest jam, too. However, I remembered an intriguing recipe...strawberry cake. The concentrated syrup would be great for a lot of stuff, actually. Strawberry milk, lemonade, etc.

Alternately, a simple syrup would be great.

You could puree them with various ingredients, then freeze to make pop-sickles

Strawberry bread, as opposed to banana, lol.

More flavors that go with them: balsamic vinegar, basil, mint, lemon, buttermilk.

I'm sure they are fine to eat.
posted by annsunny at 9:55 AM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh, and my favorite thing to do with strawberries is to drizzle them with orange liqueur and a bit of sugar and serve them on top of pancakes.
posted by annsunny at 9:58 AM on October 20, 2013

Oh, what a fine problem to have! Strawberry daquiris made with real strawberries are delicious (virgin or not, as you prefer). As are these strawberry, lime, black pepper popsicles.
posted by Empidonax at 10:03 AM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Definitely fine for any purpose!!

I like defrosted strawberries with a bit of milk, chopped up banana, and some honey/cinnamon as a dessert.

I would make strawberry cobbler.

Smoothies for sure.

Do you have a good enough blender to make sorbet? I would make sorbet and put it back in the freezer.
posted by DoubleLune at 10:04 AM on October 20, 2013

Strawberries over ice cream, strawberries with a little half and half, strawberries over a plain or lemon-flavored cake (shortcake, pound cake, etc.), strawberries tossed with melon, grapes, and whatever else you might have for a fruit salad...
posted by koucha at 10:32 AM on October 20, 2013

Strawberry shrub for drinking. Soak the berries in cider vinegar over night. Pour the liquid into a saucepan, discard the berries. Add sugar (about as much sugar as there is liquid), heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Add to water, sparkling water, champagne, whiskey or whatever for tasty drinks.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:09 PM on October 20, 2013

4 lbs, so about 4 pints. Make Eton Mess. It's really, really good. Strawberry daiquiries or margaritas. Or just sweeten to taste, chop them up and eat them. I don't like the texture of whole frozen strawbs, but chopped is fine.
posted by theora55 at 10:07 PM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]