Rambutan is a delicious, sweet fruit that contains a lot of sugar and water when it’s picked directly from the tree. Fresh rambutan should be consumed within 2-3 days for the best results, but what’s the best way to preserve it for longer than this?
Can You Freeze Rambutan?
Yes, you can freeze rambutan for up to 3 months, either peeled or with the skin intact. It’s probably best to peel the fruit first, before flash freezing and then adding it to a freezer-safe bag or suitably sized storage container.
Does Rambutan Freeze Well? Yes
Can You Refreeze Rambutan? Yes
How to Freeze Rambutan
Rambutan is a delicious fruit, but it’s not the most widely available produce. So, if you’ve been lucky to get your hands on a batch of fresh rambutan, it’s a good idea to freeze it so you can preserve its delicious taste and texture for several months.
Here are the steps you need to follow to freeze rambutan the right way:
- Peel
Use a knife to cut through the skin of the rambutan, and then use your fingers to pull the skin away from the fruit. - Flash Freeze
Line a tray with parchment paper and place the peeled rambutan on top. Then, add the tray to the freezer and leave it for several hours until the rambutan has frozen solid. - Bag up
Place the rambutan fruits into a suitably sized freezer-safe bag, taking care not to overfill the bags. Press out as much air as you can from the bag before sealing. - Label and Freeze
Write today’s date and the use-by date on the front of the freezer-safe bag and drop it into the freezer. Remember, you can freeze rambutan for around three months.
3 Tips for Freezing Rambutan
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing rambutan to have the best results:
Refrigerate
When you’re dealing with fresh rambutan, it’s best to refrigerate it to preserve the delicious and sweet taste of the fruit. You can keep rambutan in the fridge for around two weeks until it starts to turn, which is good to know if you don’t fancy freezing the fruit in the first place.
Check Its Colour
Rambutan is a vibrant fruit with striking red colouring. If the outside shell has started to discolour and is brown and yellow, it’s a sign that the rambutan is no longer fresh.
If the rambutan has started to turn, it goes without saying that you should avoid freezing it, as it won’t be fresh when you come to enjoy it in the future.Â
Use From Frozen
If you’re planning to use Rambutan in various recipes or perhaps in your morning smoothie, you can use it straight from frozen and don’t need to worry about thawing it first.
However, if you wish to enjoy rambutan as a snack and want to thaw it first, we explain how best to go about it in one of the following sections.Â
How Long Can You Freeze Rambutan?
You can freeze rambutan for around three months. Many fruits freeze for longer than this, but due to the high water content of rambutan, we’d recommend freezing it for no longer than three months.
After all, you don’t want this delicious and exotic fruit to taste anything less than its very best when you come to enjoy it several months after freezing it in the first instance.
You Can Freeze Rambutan for up to 3 Months
How Do You Defrost Rambutan?
As mentioned, you don’t have to defrost rambutan if you plan on using it in a smoothie or another recipe.
However, if you want to enjoy it as a snack, transfer the fruit from the freezer to the fridge the night before you plan to enjoy it. It’s best not to thaw rambutan at room temperature, as it tastes much better when served cold!
Can You Refreeze Rambutan?
You can refreeze rambutan, but we’d only recommend doing so once.
Remember, rambutan has high water content, and this means that the more you freeze and thaw it, the more likely you are to affect its consistency.
By flash-freezing rambutan in the first place, you make it easy for yourself to remove only the fruits that you need at any given time, which reduces the need to refreeze it and should save you from wasting any of these delicious fruits.
Does Rambutan Freeze Well?
Like many other fruits, rambutan freezes really well. It’s important to peel and flash freeze the fruits first so they don’t stick together in the freezer.
Then, providing you follow the steps as listed above, you shouldn’t encounter any problems when freezing and thawing rambutan, providing you use the fruit within three months.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing rambutan or rambutan in general, then these may help:
This depends on how quickly you know you’ll eat the rambutan up. If you’ll eat them within a week or two then the best place to keep them is in the fridge. If you need to keep them for longer then opt for freezing them.
Yes, like most fruits, rambutan will turn bad. After a couple of weeks, the skin will become soft and it will eventually turn mushy.
