Description
How to Wash and Store Berries so they Don’t Mold and Last Longer
Ingredients
Scale
- 16 ounces Fresh Strawberries
- 2–3 Tablespoons of Distilled White Vinegar
- 3–4 Cups of Water
- Salad Spinner works best but if you don’t have this just lay a colander inside a large mixing bowl
- Paper Towels
- Airtight Containers
- Kitchen Towel you don’t mind getting stained
Instructions
- Start by filling your salad spinner with water, toss in the strawberries, and add a splash of distilled white vinegar—about 2 to 3 tablespoons.
- Swish the strawberries around gently for no more than 2 minutes—I just set a timer to keep it easy. Keeping them too long will make them mushy. If you don’t want your fingers to smell like vinegar, you can use a spatula to gently swish them around and submerge them in the vinegar solution.
- Rinse the strawberries with water for at least 30 seconds. This will help get all the vinegar flavor off the strawberries.
- Add the strawberries to a salad spinner and spin for 30 seconds to remove as much moisture as possible. This will help reduce the drying time. You can also line it with 2 paper towels before adding in the berries if you want to cut the drying time even more.
- Gently place the strawberries on a towel you don’t mind getting a little stained. I use a red kitchen towel. Then pat them dry—carefully. You want to get rid of as much moisture as possible, especially around the leaves. They hold a ton of water, so I like to gently rub the leaves with the towel to help them dry faster.
- Now lay the berries out to air dry. If it’s hot out or you’re worried about a fly sneaking in, just fold the towel over them or pop a fruit net on top. The goal here is to get them completely dry before storing.
- Once fully air dried, about 4-5 hours, line an airtight container with two paper towels, add the berries, and pop them in the fridge. You can do the same step for blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. Just be sure to be very gently with the raspberries as show in my video tutorial.
Notes
- I usually wrap all my berries up in kitchen towels like little “berry burritos”, (SEE PICS). They just chill on the counter for a few hours each weekend. But pro tip—let your family know they are in there, or someone might grab a towel to dry their hands and send berries flying across the kitchen!