The Damsel would like to gently insist that you flash freeze your raspberry treasure. Do it this way:

1. Wash the berries. This means put them into a strainer and rinse well with cold water.

2. Let them drain a bit.

3. Spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Careful! Raspberries are very fragile!

4. Put the cookie sheet, uncovered, into the freezer. Have a lie-down or clean a bathroom. Your choice.

5. When the raspberries are hard-frozen, sweep them off the cookie sheet into ziplock bags or freezer containers. You may need to nudge them off the cookie sheet with a pancake turner or something. Put the bags or containers into the freezer until you want to eat them.

Before the Damsel learned about flash freezing, she’d just put the freshly washed berries directly into a ziplock and froze them that way. But if she wanted to use a recipe that required say, one cup of raspberries, she’d quietly cry for a minute or two, because the frozen raspberries would have become a single, solid frozen block. She’d have to thaw the whole thing or attempt to ice-pick the thing into pieces. Sometimes she just couldn’t face it.

But because you know better and flash froze them, they will stay individual. You’ll be able to take out just what you need, without having to face a discouraging frozen mass. You can use them all year long for smoothies, desserts, or just popping into your mouth.

You can use this method for practically anything little you want to freeze. This is the Damsel’s wish.