How to Freeze Cherries
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The saying “all good things must come to an end” certainly applies to the end of cherry season. After harvesting daily since May, the end of Stemilt’s cherry season is drawing near. I often get emails this time of year from people wondering how they can preserve cherries so that they can enjoy the delicious fruit in the off-season. While there are many methods for preserving cherries (and any fruit for that matter), I often suggest freezing cherries because it is quick, easy, and retains the nutrition and flavor of fruit. This weekend, I set out to freeze cherries for my family, and wanted to share my process and results with you.
Step 1: Wash your cherries.
A cold water rinse works well, or you can choose to use a fruit/vegetable spray as well.
Step 2: Remove the stems.
It’s important to wait to remove the stems until you are ready to use/freeze cherries, as the stem helps maintain the fruit’s freshness.
Step 3: Pit the cherries.
You can opt to freeze cherries whole, pit and all, but knowing that I would probably use the cherries right out of the freezer in a smoothie or feed them to my toddler (once thawed), I chose to save time later and do this step now. If you have a cherry pitter, use it! I didn’t, so pitting the cherries was a bit messy and quite the task (you have to dig them out with a spoon or pop them out with your hand). I ended up slicing each cherry in half to make removing the pits less challenging. I cut around the pit, similar to how you might cut around an avocado pit.
Step 4: Spread pitted cherries in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
I was visiting my parents for the weekend and was able to use their freezer for this project! Otherwise, my freezer would have been too narrow to fit a wide cookie sheet. If your freezer is the same, you can skip this step and freeze the cherries in a Ziploc bag. You’ll just want to be prepared to deal with a block of frozen cherries, rather than individually frozen cherries.
Step 5: Place cherries in freezer.
The time for freezing cherries will vary based on your freezer settings. For me, two cookie sheets of halved cherries took about 6 hours to freeze thoroughly.
Step 6: Remove from freezer and place in bags.
Once I confirmed that the cherries were frozen, I removed them from the cookie sheet and placed them in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag. I dated the bag so I would know when to toss them (if I hadn’t used them up by then). Cherries will keep in the freezer for 6 months, or up to a year in a deep freezer. I froze approximately 54 cherries, and that yielded one quart size bag of frozen cherries.
Step 7: Place cherries back in freezer.
The frozen cherries go back into the freezer until it is time to use them.
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16 Comments. Leave new
I was able to buy your cherries before, but they are harder to find now. Much easier a few years back. Can you tell me where I can buy your cherries in my area (zip 60462)? They are the best. Thank you.
Hi Barbara, Sorry you’ve had trouble finding our cherries. I looked up the zip and it looks like Meijer & Jewel-Osco are going to be your best bets to find our cherries. We are shipping now through August! Enjoy!
I found out today that you can easily pit cherries using a chopstick – just poke it through the cherry at the stem end, and the pit pops out the other end! So much easier than cutting and digging out the pit. Much less messy too.
Yes, we love that method. Here is a post with a few more ideas: https://www.stemilt.com/stem-blog/how-to-pit-cherries/
I actually only flash freeze (so to speak) my fruits for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet and then transfer to ziploc fordeep freeze, they don’t stick too badly, I can remove for smoothies, etc…
Great tip! Thanks for sharing, Kristen!
I froze a bunch of cherries, following your directions. However, I took a bag out to “test sample” a week later, and the cherries all taste overripe/rotten. Did I need to use some sort of fruit preserver such as Fruit Fresh?
That’s a bummer! No, fruit Fresh should not be needed. Did your cherries have any quality issues before your froze?
We just discovered your amazing Skylar cherries. They are the sweetest most succulent cherries we’ve ever had. I purchased them at Whole Foods. But are there other stores that carry them or any of your other fruit?
Thank you,
Jackie Wheeler
Huntington Beach 92649
Hi Jackie! I’m so glad you loved our Skylar Rae cherries. They have a short seasonality and limited availability so glad you scooped some up. Other than Whole Foods, you also may find our products at Sprouts, Gelsons, and Trader Joes. I hope this helps!
I have had some frozen cherries in the chest freezer for 15 years and heard that if kept at 0 degrees, they will be good indefinitely. Would like to make either freezer jam or wine. Is that ok? thanks
I honestly can’t give a great recommendation on that, as I’ve never tried myself. If you do, let us know how it works out!
Cherries must grow in the southern hemisphere. Why aren’t they available in the winter?
They sure are (in Chile), but not always easy to find at any grocery store like they are in the summer.
I actually thought about freezing cherries in ice cube trays to prevent a big clump of frozen fruit. What do you think? I also saw preserving them in alcohol. Does it make a difference what type you use?
That is a great idea! I haven’t tried that personally, but you might do that especially if you want to use them for a smoothie. Otherwise, I worry the extra water might not allow them to thaw easily. The recipes we create are for sweet cherries, specifically, not tart.