Keeping strawberries fresh for even a few days has been a challenge for me all this time. Sometimes it gets molded the very next day I buy it and it is very annoying. But I recently started doing something that prevents the strawberries from getting spoiled fast.
I wash the berries in a vinegar-water solution, that’s it! It kills the spores that are already there on the fruit which helps the strawberries to last longer. But no, this solution doesn’t help the strawberries to last a month or anything, but it definitely will last longer than they normally do.
Actually most produce have natural mold spores on them. Most berries, especially strawberries have high chances of molds to grow. If one strawberry had mold in it, then it won’t take long for the remaining strawberries to get spoiled, if they are all stored together.
Now let’s see the ingredients which are needed to make this wash. I usually wash fruits right when I get them from the grocery and then store it in the fridge, that makes it so much easier.
- 250 g strawberries
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 2 cups water
- Mix water and vinegar in a bowl. (You can adjust the amount depending upon the quantity of strawberries you have)
- Immerse the berries in the solution. Soak for 5 minutes. If you have a lot of berries, you can work in shifts.
- Scoop out the berries and put them in a colander. If I have lots of other produce to wash, I will reuse this solution.
- Rinse gently under cold water.
- Spread out on a towel and allow it to air dry COMPLETELY. This step is very important. There shouldn’t be any moisture on the berries.
- Then store it in produce saving containers like this or in glass jars (I used Maison jars) placing a piece of paper towel in the bottom of the jars.
I store cherries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and grapes this way and it works well for me. The best part is that, since it is washed and ready to eat, we just grab the fruits from the fridge when needed and gobble it up. Most of the time, the fruits get spoiled as we feel lazy to take it out from the fridge and clean it. Try to have your fruits cleaned and visible in the fridge because if the fruits are out of sight, then it will will out of mind, right?
Hope you all will give this method a try. 🙂
JazakiAllahu khairan sadia….
I did this easy cleaning method and it turned out that by the end of the day, me and kids goobled up the entire box of strawberries left out to dry without it having to go to the refrigerator !
Wa iyaki.
Hahaha I can totally relate to that. It happens here too most of the time.