[mashauk]

I was always told that you could only freeze stuff for a certain amount of time.  I'm thinking about my lottie stuff, no meat or fish, why wouldn't it be safe to leave it in there as long as you want, surely once it's frozen it's frozen and can't deteriorate, or am I missing something?

[Sally A]

I don't tend to take any notice how long meat of veg is stored.

Shop bought frozen veg has up to 2 years use by date on it.

I know commercially frozen stuff is super-fast frozen of something, but 10 months until you're picking fresh again should be fine.

[richyrich7]

Long term freezing of veg requires blanching, it seems to freeze better if you vacuum seal it too, and it can get freezer burn as well if not packaged properly.

[David.]

I was given some blackberries out of a failing freezer that were up to 5 years old. The older they were, the mushier they were when defrosted - just what you need to get maximum juice extraction (pulp fermentation) for wine making!

[WG.]

Everything deteriorates in the freezer.  You can slow it down by proper preparation and packaging.  I tend not to freeze any veg these days.

Some things, e.g. oily fish get distinctly tasted in a matter of weeks.

Mostly I use freezer for : soups, stocks, purees, active yogurt starters.  Short-term for general shopping, left-overs etc

I prefer bottling for fruit and other stuff.

[mashauk]

I blanched most things, and made lots of soups, sauces and stews to freeze, and even bought an additional under counter freezer.  Had to still give loads of stuff away though.  I've bottled a few things, chutneys/jams/pickle etc. but unfortunately don't have lots of storage space so couldn't do more than a few jars of each.

[David.]

Some things, e.g. oily fish get distinctly tasted in a matter of weeks.

I put fillets from approx 200 - 300 mackerel in the freezer each summer, but the only way my wife now cooks them is to souse them in a slow cooker, and that works really well.

[Cazzy]

I was given some blackberries out of a failing freezer that were up to 5 years old. The older they were, the mushier they were when defrosted - just what you need to get maximum juice extraction (pulp fermentation) for wine making!

You have answered the 2 questions I was going to ask about blackberries

Can they be frozen
Can you make wine from them

Thanx