Prepping Strawberries

How to wash and prepare fresh strawberries to last all week and for months of awesome smoothies and desserts.

I spent an hour with my daughter picking fresh strawberries last week. We picked seven pounds of berries and brought them home. I was a bit overwhelmed with so much fruit, but while I was washing all of them, I thought that I would share how I clean all of the fruit that comes into the house.

I do this to my apples, berries, grapes, pears, plumbs, and everything else that has edible skins. That includes lemons and limes because I’m always zesting them, so it’s important to get them clean!

With these fresh strawberries, I made an Old Fashioned Strawberry Soda and a Strawberry Brownie Cheesecake. Oh my, they were good!!

To start off, I clean my kitchen sink. CLEAN! I spray it with Clorox cleaner and scrub it down.

Then I fill the sink with lukewarm water and add 1/2 to 1 cup of Vinegar. Then add in the fruit. I added about half the berries to this batch. The vinegar will help to gently clean the fruit as well as kill any mold that may be growing on the fruit that will cause the fruit to rot quicker.

Let the berries soak for 10 to 15 minutes, agitating them gently to get the “bug poop” and dirt off of them. While they are soaking, prepare an area to dry the berries. I have tea towels and paper towels ready along with a cookie sheet with a silicone mat.

When you’re ready, rinse off the strawberries and remove the stems. Place the berries on the paper towels and dry them completely.

It’s important that the fruit is DRY before you put them into the fridge. If your fruit is wet, you’re inviting mold to grow and the fruit to rot. Dry them well.

To store my fruit, I have some plastic containers that I’ve saved, so I lay down a paper towel in the container and then add the fruit. I’ve also read that putting them into glass jars help them stay fresh for a long time.

When you prepare fresh strawberries, blueberries and even raspberries this way, they should be good in the fridge for a week! No more moldy fruit hiding in the bunch.

If you can’t eat ALL the fruit within a week, freezing it is easy.  I hull then quarter the strawberries and place them in a single layer on the prepared cookie sheet. Freeze them overnight and then transfer them to a freezer baggie and they are all ready for lots and lots of smoothies, jam or pie.

I hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial on how I wash my fruit. Please let me know how you wash your fresh fruit from the farmer’s markets, co-ops, and farms. I’m always interested in learning new ways to make my life easier.

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