Here is a guide to freezing honeydew. Learn how to freeze fruit, what to expect after thawing, and the best ways to use molasses after freezing.
Do you have leftover molasses that you can’t use before it goes bad? That probably makes you think: can you freeze honeydew?
the short answer
Honeydew becomes much softer after freezing and thawing and works best in sorbets, smoothies, and baked goods. To freeze, cut into chunks or cubes, pre-freeze on a cookie sheet, and freeze in a long-term freezer bag.
That is the 2 sentence answer.
Want to learn more? Here’s what we cover next:
- more information on how well molasses freezes
- freeze molasses step by step, including some mods you may find useful
- Ways to defrost melon.
- some ideas on how to use frozen molasses
Interested? Let’s jump right in.
Does Honeydew freeze well?
Honeydew freezes well. It becomes much softer and a bit mushy after thawing, which means it’s not a great choice for fruit salads or eating as a stand-alone snack. But that doesn’t make it useless.
Fortunately, frozen molasses has many uses, and you’ll likely find something that works for you. Some popular ideas include smoothies (great use of any frozen fruit), sherbet, and baked goods like muffins, quick breads, etc.
Frozen molasses also works great in any recipe that calls for fruit puree.
Simply put, frozen molasses does have its drawbacks (mainly the change in texture), but there are a variety of ways you can use it, and you can certainly find one that works for you.
That being said, remember that molasses will last for more than two weeks if refrigerated. That meant that if yours is still complete, you probably have at least a few days before it starts to lose quality.
(For more details on storage and shelf life, see my how long does molasses last article.)
Now, let’s see how to perform the freezing process.
How to freeze sweet melon?
This is how molasses is frozen:
- Homework. Wash and cut the molasses. I suggest cutting it into small pieces, but you can also dice or go with larger pieces. Go with what makes the most sense to you. Then, let the molasses pieces dry for 10-15 minutes, or pat them down with paper towels. If you skip this step, there will be more frost on the fruit after freezing, but that’s not a big deal in most cases.
- Pre-freeze. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper and spread out the pieces in a single layer. Make sure the fruit pieces don’t form lumps (a few dabs are fine, you can fix that later). Once this is done, place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 2-3 hours (or longer, if your pieces are quite large) until the fruit pieces are frozen solid. Or leave it in the freezer overnight.
- Transfer. Take the baking sheet out of the freezer, break up any stuck-on bits with a spatula, and transfer the fruit to a freezer bag. Squeeze out any extra air and label the bag with a name and date if you like.
- Freeze. Throw the bag in the freezer.
That’s it, short and simple. Everything takes 10-15 minutes, including the preparation, which is needed at some point anyway.
Now, you may have more questions. Let’s tackle those.
Is prior freezing necessary?
No, it’s not. Pre-freezing is useful because it allows you to freeze everything in a bag and still take as many pieces as you need for a recipe without thawing everything.
But if you know ahead of time that you’ll be using all of your frozen molasses in one go, you can skip this step. The same is true if you divide the fruit into several bags, each containing enough for a pre-planned dish.
In other words, pre-freezing is the way to go if you don’t already have a plan for how to use the fruit. It gives you flexibility, but that’s about it. Your molasses won’t taste any better (or worse) if you skip pre-freezing.
Can pureed molasses be frozen?
Of course. If you go this route, there is no need for pre-freezing. Instead, you transfer the molasses puree to an airtight container and freeze it. That’s the simplest option out there.
But if you’re still not sure if you need the pureed molasses or not, I suggest freezing it in chunks. You can always thaw them and puree them in a blender if needed.
How to defrost sweet melon?
If you really need to thaw the molasses pieces, place them in a freezer bag or airtight container and leave them in the refrigerator overnight. That is by far the safest option.
(The same applies to frozen molasses puree.)
If you go this route, expect some water in the bag after you thaw it. This is how it might look:
Just drain that water and use the fruit.
One thing to keep in mind here is that getting rid of some of the water from the molasses can throw off the texture of whatever you’re cooking. For example, if you puree thawed fruit and mix it into muffin batter, it might be a little drier than normal. If that’s the case, you fix it by adding an extra teaspoon (or more) of water.
That being said, in many cases, you can skip thawing altogether. That is the case, for example, if you add molasses to a smoothie and your blender can process ice cubes. Or if you’re making a molasses sorbet.
Finally, let’s talk about using your frozen honeydew.
How to use frozen molasses
Some of the more popular ways to use frozen honeydew include:
Keep in mind that there aren’t many molasses recipes out there, especially when it comes to baked goods.
Fortunately, there is an easy solution for that. You can use most melon recipes and simply replace the melon with honeydew without changing anything else. The dish will taste slightly different, but it should still be quite good.
(I link to a couple of recipes in my article on freezing melon: Can you freeze melon?.)
