Can I freeze homemade mincemeat until Christmas 2017? 8 September 2016 at 7:52AM in Old style MoneySaving 7 replies 8K views

zoothornrollo_2

Am about to make a large batch of mincemeat to go in the fridge to make mince pies for this Christmas.
If I use up all the ingredients there'll be way too much.
Will the surplus keep in the freezer for more than a year?
Mary Berry says it keeps well for six months in a cool dry place, so was thinking maybe it would.
Using butter not suet if that makes any difference.

redfox

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PasturesNew

The answer is: Yes you can do it.

The trouble is that over that additional year there might be some deterioration in look/colour - and you might simply "not fancy" eating it, or risking it next year.

So yes .... but, if you do that, will you REALLY use it, or will your inner voice talk you out of it?

There are other recipes you can use it up in. e.g. a mincemeat-flapjack .... stuff that's not "specifically Xmas related" so you can eat it without feeling you're using up stuff, or eating Xmas stuff.

zoothornrollo_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

you might simply "not fancy" eating it, or risking it next year.

So yes .... but, if you do that, will you REALLY use it, or will your inner voice talk you out of it?

Yes well you read my mind there.

Dclutterchique

Assuming you are making http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/christmas/special-mincemeat and your house isn't really hot I wouldn't bother putting the mincemeat in the fridge or freezer, just put it into jars and store at the back of a dark cupboard until you need it. I've seen recipes that use far less alcohol last much longer than 15 months and the final results were fine. If the top of the mincemeat starts to get a bit dry because the liquid had trickled to the bottom of the jar just turn it upside down and let the liquid work its way back through the jar.

Of course, if by 'way too much' you mean you'll have more mincemeat than your jars will hold and you need an alternative place/method of storage then, yes I would go ahead and freeze it. After all lots of *shop bought* mince pies can be frozen and as you'll be cooking any pies you make I can't seen there being a problem.

*apologies for the obscenity* :rotfl:

zoothornrollo_2

Dclutterchique wrote: »

Assuming you are making http://www.maryberry.co.uk/recipes/christmas/special-mincemeat and your house isn't really hot I wouldn't bother putting the mincemeat in the fridge or freezer, just put it into jars and store at the back of a dark cupboard until you need it. I've seen recipes that use far less alcohol last much longer than 15 months and the final results were fine. If the top of the mincemeat starts to get a bit dry because the liquid had trickled to the bottom of the jar just turn it upside down and let the liquid work its way back through the jar.

Of course, if by 'way too much' you mean you'll have more mincemeat than your jars will hold and you need an alternative place/method of storage then, yes I would go ahead and freeze it. After all lots of *shop bought* mince pies can be frozen and as you'll be cooking any pies you make I can't seen there being a problem.

*apologies for the obscenity* :rotfl:

Excellent thank you.
That is indeed the recipe - is that fairly boozy then? can't remember how much I've used before.
I do find it surprising that some 'reputable' TV chefs etc have published recipes for 'homemade mince pies' that include something like 'it's OK to use a good shop-bought mincemeat'.
Really? Surely it defeats at least half the point of making them at home?

Dclutterchique

zoothornrollo wrote: »

Excellent thank you.
That is indeed the recipe - is that fairly boozy then? can't remember how much I've used before.
I do find it surprising that some 'reputable' TV chefs etc have published recipes for 'homemade mince pies' that include something like 'it's OK to use a good shop-bought mincemeat'.
Really? Surely it defeats at least half the point of making them at home?

Yes, that is quite a boozy recipe, for example Delia only uses 6 tablespoons of brandy to make 6lb of mincemeat and she says hers has lasted up to 3 years!

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/home-made-christmas-mincemeat

In one of my recipe books 'The Dairy Book of British Food' which uses 300ml or 1/2 pint alcohol to make 2.5kg or 5 1/2 lb of mincemeat it makes the suggestion 'Note For mincemeat that will keep well, use a firm, hard type of apple, such as Wellington; a juicy apple, such as Bramley's Seedling, may make the mixture too moist.'

VfM4meplse

Agree, it's a waste of freezer space when it could be improving in a dark cupboard somewhere...