Shopping and storage
How to Keep Berries Bursting with Freshness
How to Keep Berries Bursting with Freshness
As part of our #StretchOutAndSave campaign, we’re sharing tips this month on how to keep popular summer foods fresh for longer. For our final blog in this series, we turn our attention to berries…
Nothing says ‘summer’ like the smell and taste of fresh strawberries. In the sunny south-east, stalls line the roads at this time of year, enticing drivers to pull in and purchase some freshly-picked berries. And a summer job picking strawberries is almost a rite of passage for teenagers in certain parts of the country.
Strawberries – and, indeed, other types of berries – can ripen very quickly, however. We’ve all felt that disappointment when, after anticipating a treat of delicious berries, we take them out of the fridge only to find most of them have spoiled…
The good news is that, as with all fruit and veg, there are some simple storage steps you can take to make sure your berries stay fresh for as long as possible.
How to Keep Berries Fresh for Longer
- Store strawberries with their green tops in the fridge to keep them fresh for longer.
- If you have more time, washing strawberries in a mixture of water and vinegar will keep them fresh by killing any spores on the fruit. Mix 8 cups of water and 1 cup of white vinegar, and then let the strawberries sit in this mixture, gently moving them around to help dislodge any dirt and to let the vinegar kill spores and bacteria. The strawberries can be dried gently in a salad spinner or on a towel, patting them dry with paper towels.
- Store your washed and dried strawberries in a sealed container that has been lined with paper towels. If using an air-tight container, leave the lid slightly open to avoid natural moisture build-up.
- Once they’re clean, dry, and in their container, store your strawberries in the fridge for maximum freshness – and don’t remove their green tops until right before use. Keep an eye on them and quickly remove any strawberries that are going bad.
- Blueberries and raspberries will keep for a few days in the fridge. Wash them only when you are about to use them. Again, keep an eye on them and remove any berries that are going bad. Blueberries and raspberries can get damaged easily, so store them carefully, and try to keep their containers level, so they don’t get squashed.
For more handy tips on how to store your food to maximise freshness, check out our A-Z of Foods. And make sure to follow the #StretchOutAndSave campaign on social media this week.
To follow us on social media, find us at the links below: