I recall the Ant and the Grasshopper from my childhood. The Aesop fable shows an ant preparing food for the winter while the grasshopper dances away in the summer. Winter comes and the grasshopper is starving and asks the ant for food.
If you live in a space where winters can be terrible, going out and finding fresh fruit is problematic. Yes, there are individual quick frozen (IQF) options but they can be expensive.
Our solution involves being more ant than grasshopper. Buy up local fruit. My local farmer sells blueberries in 5 lb. boxes. Get the box home and put the blueberries into containers. Put the containers in the freezer. Wait for winter to come and then enjoy local summer fruit in winter.
"The fruit won't be as lovely as it is in late July." You are correct. Not as lovely yet very good in other ways. I make blueberry lemonade in the winter. I sometimes will pop a few straight out of the freezer. Pure blueberry goodness.
Alton Brown offers a way to frozen strawberries that sounds impressive. While we think strawberries are better than blueberries, we think frozen blueberries do better than frozen strawberries. Plus, I am not using dry ice in any form.
I also love the convenience of not adding fruit to my winter shopping list. I don't have to run out into a blizzard to chase down fruit. I don't have to succumb to buy a Driscoll box in the middle of winter.
Podcast: Making blueberry season last as long as possible
Some will take fruit and can the fruit or make jams. Hats off to you if you have that energy, kitchen space, and patience. I have none of those things. My method may not win blue ribbons. I get local blueberries at the opposite time of the year.
BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage
I do take some of the blueberries to put them in a smaller container to thaw them in the refrigerator. That is a common question I get when I tell people about this way to get summer goodness in the middle of winter.
I do supplement the winter blueberries with seasonal apples at the winter farmers market. I just know that if the weather gets really bad, I don't have to worry about getting fruit and Vitamin C in a blizzard.
If you are the grasshopper and your friend is the ant, you have to decide about helping out the ant. Include a life lesson to prepare something for winter.
Let us know what you do for local fruit when winter comes. Being a grasshopper sounds more fun in the summer yet the ant wins out in winter.
photos credit: me
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