I love berry season here in Louisiana! There are so many things you can do with them and they are so healthy!! I love making Instant Strawberry Ice Cream, dipping them in Chocolate, Strawberry Delight, Strawberry Daiquiri, Strawberry-Coconut Soft serve, or just eating them whole! I also use them in my delicious Heavenly Strawberry Cake or what about my Berry Chantilly Cake!! Making you hungry yet?? Any of these desserts would be delicious to make for Mother’s Day in a few weeks! But how can you keep your strawberries from going bad so quickly?? Keep reading!
I usually purchase a few flats of strawberries to put in the freezer. This past Saturday, I purchased 2 flats of strawberries from the farmer’s market. By Sunday, they were starting to go bad! I was NOT happy! At $18 a flat (which was a good deal), I didn’t want to see any of my $$ go in the trash (or really to the chickens because that is what we do with produce trimmings)!
I immediately cleaned them in a vinegar bath then I used the following trick my grandmother taught me:
How to Keep Strawberries Fresher, Longer
1. Clean fruit in vinegar bath consisting of 1 cup of vinegar and a sink full of water. Allowed the strawberries to soak for 5-10 minutes while agitating the fruit every few minutes to make sure to get all the dirt off. This also helps to remove harmful pesticides that are on the surface of the fruit. Organic strawberries would be best but they are hard to find and EXPENSIVE!
2. After washing the strawberries, rinse them under plain water and then dry them well to remove any excess moisture and place the berries in a plastic container layered with paper towels (you could also use a plastic zip lock bag). Layer paper towels between each layer of berries being sure to cover top of strawberries with paper towel. Refrigerate.
3. Change the paper towel daily. The paper towel will absorb the extra moisture from the strawberries which usually causes the fruit to spoil faster. See HERE for more information.
I will also use this technique when I harvest the blueberries from my mil’s bushes in a few weeks! I can’t wait. You can also use this trick with fresh herbs like basil! It will last a lot longer than just refrigeration alone.
Give it a try and see how long you can keep your fruit fresh in the fridge! Be sure to try one of my yummy strawberry recipes on the blog, as well as Melissa’s Famous Cheesecake recipe covered with Strawberries found in Satisfying Eats Cookbook!
What is your favorite Strawberry Recipe??
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Also be sure to check out my two cookbooks, Satisfying Eats & Comforting Eats, NOW available in eBook format through Amazon and the spiral bound versions are available here on my blog.
Happy Cookin’!
