take the stem out with the end of the spoon. rinse, dry and I put them into soften vanilla ice cream and gently stir and freeze again..............the most delicious whole strawberry ever. If you want to just freeze them remove the stem rinse, dry & freeze on a tray and then put into a heavy duty freezer back and take out what you need. We eat them a little frozen. If you want to make a salad, we just take off the stem, rinse them in water & slice and in a bowl put some splenda or sugar over them and stir, cover and refrigerate........Holds up to 5 days........does not last long here.