I love all the fruit that the summer produces. We, in Ontario, are blessed with beautiful pears, peaches, plums, apples, all sorts of berries and so many other fruits. How can we enjoy them without getting sick of them? After years of watching my mother and my grandmother prepare bushels of fruit for canning and making jam, I thought, why not eliminate all the sugar and pectin and other preservatives, and simply freeze the fruit for later one. You can buy it in the grocery store, why not do it yourself? So that is exactly what I did. 

So as everything comes into season, I buy fruit as they become available (not to mention the cost is ideal at this point), I take them home, clean them, and then flash freeze them on a tray - they they are not stuck together. Then once they have been frozen, I remove them from the freezer and quickly bag them in thick storage bag. Then into the deep freezer they go. They make wonderful smoothies, pies, melbas, or anything else you enjoy using fruit for. We often eat them just thawed out. My daughter loves fruit and aside from it being messy, it's great for her. 

Berries and peaches freeze the best. The other fruits like pears and plums have a higher water content so when they thaw they are runny, but they are great for sauces or simply poaching. Tomatoes freeze very well whole, you basically just wash them and pop them into a bag, you don't even need to flash freeze them. Then when you are ready to use them, just throw them whole into your sauce. If you are a new gardener and went crazy planting tomato plants and have WAY more than you know what to do with, this is a great solution that will last you the whole year. Image all those organic tasty ripe tomatoes. The taste is fantastic. 

So next time you're at the farmer's market and in awe of all the beautiful tasty ripe fruit, or have a garden full of wonderfulness, here is a great option to consider so that you may enjoy it year round. Oh, and, you can get your kids involved with the process, so they learn and you're passing this great habit along.