Keep Your Fruit Fresh Longer With These Washing And Storing Tips

Most people love eating berries of all kinds including strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and gooseberries. Whether you source yours from the local market or personal garden, you want to wash and store them correctly to keep them fresh for longer.

Buy Fresh

Prolonged freshness has to be considered at the time of purchase. If you buy a box or pint of berries that are shriveled, discolored, moldy, lack firmness, or have soft spots, they won’t last more than a day or two no matter how you store them.

Raspberries and strawberries with soft, dark red spots are also not fresh. For the freshest berries, opt for seasonal produce from the farmer’s market.

Wash Before Eating

You should not wash berries until you want to use or eat them. The leftover excess water can quickly spoil them, especially delicate berries like gooseberries, raspberries, etc. Washing berries in their container under running water is also not recommended, as this can squish them and any leftover water in the container will make them soggy.

Instead, fill cold water in a large bowl, and gently fill a colander with your berries. Dip the colander in the water bowl for an even, pressure-free water bath. If you want to deep clean inorganic berries to remove any unwanted pesticide contamination, use a vinegar solution.

Mix 3 parts water with 1 part distilled white vinegar and use this as your water bath instead. Make sure to avoid prolonged exposure to the vinegar solution, as smaller berries may start to absorb the flavor.

The vinegar solution will rinse and remove contaminants and help prevent things like mold from spoiling strawberries, significantly increasing their shelf life. After washing, make sure to use a dry cloth or paper towel to thoroughly dry your berries for storage.

Store to Keep them Fresh for Longer

If you want to eat and keep your berries fresh for more than a day, refrigeration is the answer. Store your berries in the refrigerator and they will stay fresh for longer. Strawberries and blueberries can last up to a week, whereas delicate berries like gooseberries, raspberries, and blackberries may last up to 4 or 5 days.

If you plan to make smoothies with your berries, or if you want to eat them fresh for much longer, freezing is the best way to store them. Use a paper towel to pat dry them after washing, spread them in a layer on a baking sheet, then freeze them in the freezer.

Make sure the berries are not touching each other to prevent them from clumping into a single frozen lump. Once they are frozen, you can transfer them into a freezer/ zip-lock bag and store them in your freezer for up to 6 months.

Following the mentioned washing and storing techniques will help you keep your berries fresh for longer. We recommend buying fresh, organic berries from the farmer’s market, giving them a gentle wash and thorough drying, before storing them in the fridge or freezer.

Storing, refrigerating, or freezing wet berries will be detrimental to your goal, as excess water will lead to wet, soggy, or moldy berries over time.