Raspberries are delicious and filled with nutritional value making it a great food storage food. Unfortunately, they are only truly delicious for a few months of the year.
Dehydration and freezing are both solid methods for preserving raspberries so you can enjoy them all year round. I personally prefer freezing my raspberries, but they will not last forever. I use my freezer as part of my food storage plan, but I know there are limitations for long-term food storage. This is why I also dehydrate raspberries and other foods for longer term food storage needs.
Now, on to how you can freeze and dehydrate raspberries.
Getting started preserving raspberries
Below are the first steps you should take before you freeze or dehydrate raspberries.
Wash and remove debris
Place raspberries in a strainer and run under lukewarm water. Gently move raspberries around to ensure all debris and dirt is removed.
Remove all raspberries that are bruised, spongy, or dark and place them in a separate bowl. We can use those for our freezer raspberries.
Air dry raspberries
Place raspberries on a cookie sheet and allow raspberries to naturally dry. Too much moisture will give us a not so great final product.
How to dehydrate raspberries
Once your raspberries have been washed, picked through, and dried, we can begin setting up our dehydration trays. Place the raspberries on your trays leaving a small amount of space around them to allow the air to circulate.
- Set the dehydrator to 135 degrees Fahrenheit. (or whatever the fruit setting is on your machine)
- Allow to dry for 12-18 hours, Adjust time needed based on your humidity levels or machine type.
- I would check at about the 9 or 10 hour mark to see how they are progressing.
I ran a test on two different dehydrators. My Excalibur took 13 hours and my Square American Harvester took 15 hours.
If you are wondering if you can dehydrate raspberries in the oven, yes you can. I would recommend a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit at about 6-9 hours. There are a few other dehydration methods you can try as well.
Be sure to stir or shuffle them around every couple of hours so all sides are reached with the heat.
It is important to note that they will not shrink like some dehydrated foods. If you are looking for shrinkage to determine if they are done, that is not the way to do it.
Completely dehydrated raspberries are dry, crisp and paper-like. They lose a bit of their bright red color, but don’t worry – they’re okay!
I keep mine stored in small airtight containers with an oxygen absorber. You can also use a vacuum sealer to dry seal the raspberries into canning jars for long-term storage as there is a lot of extra air in a jar.
How to use dehydrated raspberries
My family loves snacking on them right from the jar.
I prefer to reconstitute them in a little bit of hot water before using them in baked goods. I will also use that water as part of the moisture for the recipe which gives it more amazing fruit flavor.
Our family’s favorite way to use them is to reconstitute them in oatmeal.
A few other ways to use dehydrated raspberries include:
- Add to muffins or cakes
- Use as ice cream or yogurt topping
- Create homemade trail mix
- Put in smoothies
You can also create a raspberry powder which can be used in a variety of ways. Any food storage plan should have fruit powders included due to their health benefits and flexibility in use.
How to freeze raspberries
You can use the misfit raspberries you pulled out from above, or fresh cleaned ones.
Place raspberries on cookie sheets in a single layer. Flash freeze them for five to six hours.
Transfer raspberries to freezer-grade zip-top bags. You can choose to store them in small quantities that are perfect for popping into smoothies, or you can store them in larger bags.
But work quickly.
Raspberries actually thaw quite quickly and will begin to stick together in your bags. Work with only one tray at a time.
To store raspberries, remove all of the air from your freezer bag. I use a straw to suck out the extra air as trying to use pressure to do so might crush the raspberries.
Label and freeze your raspberry packages.
I have successfully used my raspberries for a year from the freezer. The quality does diminish, so I would never serve them as a garnish on ice cream or anything. But for oatmeal, smoothies, or a raspberry sauce they work fine!
Raspberry nutritional information
Raspberries are high in dietary fiber, rich in copper and manganese, and have Vitamins C, A, and K making them nutritionally rich. One cup of raspberries contains 8.5 grams of fiber which is about 20% of our recommended daily intake.
Raspberries have significantly high levels of phenolic flavonoid phytochemicals such as anthocyanins, ellagic acid (tannin), quercetin, gallic acid, cyanidins, pelargonidins, catechins, kaempferol, and salicylic acid.
Scientific studies show that these antioxidant compounds in these berries have potential health benefits against cancer, aging, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases.
With all that raspberries have going for them including their taste, let’s get started preserving them!