6 Uses for Frozen Fruit

Frozen fruit is a very versatile food. Keeping your freezer stocked with a few different kinds of frozen fruit, either store-bought or frozen at home (see my article "Tips for Freezing Fruit" for tips), will allow you to make last minute breakfasts, snacks or desserts. Frozen fruit is a great time saver and a good thing to keep on hand in your freezer. Here are six uses for frozen fruit that will make you glad you have it on hand in your freezer.

Frozen Fruit Use #1: Smoothies. The easiest and best use for frozen fruit is to make smoothies. Because the fruit is frozen, there is no need to add ice. Just put ½ cup of yogurt, ½ cup of milk or juice and ½ cup of frozen fruit in the blender. Whirl it around, and you have a fast, easy, healthy and delicious smoothie! Any combination of fruit will probably turn out ok. Try strawberry and banana, strawberry and blueberry, raspberry, coconut and strawberry or mango and peach.

Frozen Fruit Use #2: Fruit Sauce. Fruit sauce made with frozen fruit is easy to make and is great on pancakes, waffles, or ice cream. Just cook 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1/4 cup orange juice. Stir in 2 cups frozen fruit and cook until it bubbles. If you like, you can strain the sauce and make a syrup. This is delicious with strawberries or raspberries.

Frozen Fruit Use #3: Desserts. Frozen fruit works very well in desserts. Make a strawberry sauce and pour over strawberries in a strawberry short cake. Use frozen peaches or berries to make a cobbler and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Or use frozen fruit to make pie filling.

Frozen Fruit Use #4: Replace Fresh Fruit. When frozen fruit is thawed, it can sometimes have an undesirable texture. For this reason frozen fruit works best in cooked dishes. However, if the texture doesn't bother you there are many more options available to you. You can use frozen fruit in just about any dish you would use fresh fruit in. Slice up some strawberries to add to a spinach salad. Or put frozen strawberry and mango slices and frozen blueberries on a fruit pizza. Put any type of sliced thawed frozen fruit on a tortilla spread with cream cheese, and roll up for a quick snack.

Frozen Fruit Use #5: Baking. There is basically no difference between fresh and frozen when using blueberries or raspberries in muffins. Just thaw beforehand, stir them into your batter and enjoy the delicious taste of fruit when it is not in season. You can also mix thawed frozen berries into pancake batter.

Frozen Fruit Use #6: Flavoring Drinks. Stir some frozen fruit into a pitcher of juice or lemonade to add an extra flavor. Frozen fruit works very well for this because it disintegrates into the juice and spreads its flavor better. Try different combinations of fruit and juices. My favorite is raspberries with limeade.