How To Clean Strawberries: Top 10 Easiest Methods You Should Try

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Do you want to know how to clean strawberries? You just got home with a bucket of strawberries from your backyard, a farmers’ market, or a pick-your-own farm down the road. Now you’re thinking about all the strawberry recipes and sweet treats you want to make, or you’re thinking about snacking on those berries right out of the bowl.

You need to clean those big, juicy strawberries before you start popping them in your mouth. Cleaning strawberries is not a hard thing to do. There are a few easy ways to clean strawberries so they are safe to eat. All of them require little more than water and a few items from your kitchen. Follow these steps and tips to clean strawberries the right way.

Find out how to clean strawberries the right way, when to clean them, and why it’s important to wash them before eating them.

When do You Need to Clean Strawberries?

Instead of washing strawberries when you get home from the store, it’s best to do it before you use them.

“Adding water will make strawberries go bad very quickly, so you should only wash them if you plan to eat them right away,” says Mathis. If you wash them ahead of time, the structure of the fruit will start to break down faster. So that everyone should know first how to clean strawberries.

How Long Do Strawberries Last?

Strawberries should last five to seven days in the fridge if they are stored well, but things like too much moisture and mold can shorten that time. One moldy strawberry can quickly ruin the whole package. Local strawberries, on the other hand, should last longer than those that come on a truck from across the country.

How to Rinse Strawberries?

If you buy organic, pesticide-free berries from a farmer’s market or another local source, you can rinse them in pure cool water and then dry them on a dish towel or paper towel. Then you can cut it, bake it, or just pop it in your mouth.

You can also use the vinegar method below to clean fresh, local strawberries that look dirty. But don’t use a produce brush because that could damage the berry’s thin skin or even crush it.

What You’ll Need

Colander
Running water
Clean cloth or paper towel

Here are a few Steps:

Put some fresh strawberries in a colander and run a stream of cool, fresh water over them for a few seconds. Move the berries around in the bowl with clean hands so that each strawberry gets washed.
Stop the water, and then shake the colander to get rid of any extra water. Before cutting, put the strawberries on a clean cloth and pat them dry.

How to Clean Strawberries?

If you buy strawberries from the store, especially if they were grown using pesticides, you will need to take a few extra steps on how to clean strawberries before eating them. Strawberries are one of the conventional crops that gets the most pesticides. You and your family should eat as few pesticides as possible.

Also, it takes a long time for berries to get from a big farm to the grocery store, where they are sold. During this time, they have been handled by many different people and have been in a lot of different places. Obviously, it’s worth a few extra seconds to make sure your fruit is as clean as can be.

Here are a few Steps on how to clean strawberries:

Put four parts water and one part white vinegar in a big bowl.
Put the berries in a colander that fits inside the larger bowl. Slowly lower the colander into the bowl, and make sure that all of the berries are covered by the vinegar wash.
Soak for about 20 minutes. Any longer and the berries will get soggy, and any less and they won’t work as well.
Rinse the fruit well under cool water as you lift the colander. Use a clean cloth or paper towel to dry the fruit. Don’t worry, if you rinse well, you won’t taste any vinegar. You’ll just taste the sweet and tangy taste of summer.

How to Clean Strawberries with Salt?

Spiders, flies, and worms can sometimes make a home in a strawberry. Look, they grow in dirt and there are bugs around. It’s true. Instead of being grossed out by them, soak the strawberries in a saltwater solution before you plan to eat or cook them. This will tell the tiny bugs to move out.

Mix together three teaspoons of salt and three cups of warm water to make a solution (or use one teaspoon to one cup of water ratio for as much as you need). Let all of the heat leave the water. Then, soak the berries for five minutes in the water that has been cooled.

When the time is up, put the strawberries in a colander. Rinse the berries for a few minutes in cold water from the tap. Pat everything dry. During the short soak, the salt dilutes in the water, so the berries don’t take in any salt. The last rinse will get rid of any salty taste on the skins of the berries.

Read Also: Salt Water Gargle Benefits

How to Clean Strawberries with Vinegar?

Even though running cold tap water over strawberries is an easy and effective way to clean them, you may be worried that water alone won’t get rid of the pesticides on conventional (non-organic) fruit. Don’t worry: vinegar can help get rid of pesticide residue as well as dirt or bacteria.

Pour three cups of cold water and one cup of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar into a bowl. Submerge the strawberries for five to twenty minutes. Rinse the strawberries well with cold tap water and let them drain if you don’t want them to taste acidic.

How to Clean Strawberries with Baking Soda?

If you don’t have vinegar on hand or don’t want your strawberries to taste like vinegar, you can soak them in a solution of baking soda and water. Mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 4 cups of water, and let the strawberries soak for five minutes in a large bowl. Then, run cold water over your strawberries and pat them dry.

Fresh fruits and vegetables can be cleaned of dirt, pesticides, and other things with baking soda. Also, keeping an open box of baking soda in the fridge can help get rid of other food smells, which can help your strawberries keep their taste and smell.

How to Clean Strawberries Without Them Going Soggy?

When you can, you should wash your strawberries right before you eat them so they don’t get soggy. Always using cold water is another tip.

If you have to wash them before you can use them, make sure to dry the berry and the green leaf and stem well with a paper towel. Then, put them in the fridge in an airtight container with a paper towel underneath to soak up any extra water.

How to Clean Strawberries: Some Important Tips

Before you wash your strawberries with a cup of water, you should know a few things about how to clean strawberries and wash them. Remember these tips.

Wash your Hands First

Before you touch your strawberries, wash your hands. The bacteria on your hands can come from kitchen surfaces, reusable grocery bags, market totes, and other places.

Throw Away Moldy Berries

As you sort the berries to clean them, throw away any that are too soft. Mold, bugs, and bacteria may live in soft berries. If you’re not going to eat the strawberries right away and are going to wash them to store them, look for small cuts or bruises. If the berries are damaged, they will mold more quickly, and the mold can quickly spread to other strawberries nearby.

Just Wash Right before you Want to Eat

Strawberries are absorbent. Mold and rot grow on soft fruits when they get wet. If you can help it, don’t wash your berries until you’re ready to eat or cook with them. If you wash them early, make sure the whole thing dries well, including berries and stems.

Don’t Pay a lot for Expensive Produce Washes

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says you shouldn’t use detergent, soap, or a commercial produce wash. Also, don’t clean food with bleach or other things that kill germs. These products can leave more chemicals behind than they take away.

Read Also More: Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss

Kill Bugs Using Garlic and Hot Pepper

Use garlic and hot pepper to kill bugs that have dug into your strawberries. If you grow strawberries, you know that some of the pesticides used to kill pests in your garden are harmful and can be found.

If you’re looking for a less harmful pesticide, you can spray plants with a mixture of garlic or hot peppers and water.

Use neem oil or an insecticide oil made from citrus to keep pests away.

Freeze Strawberries to Make Them Last Longer

Strawberries can be whole frozen food, sliced, or crushed, with or without sugar. Strawberries should be eaten within 2 to 3 days after putting them in the fridge.

Did you know that? The FDA says that if you freeze strawberries, they can last for 8 to 12 months. You could put these frozen strawberries in a smoothie or your favorite drink.

All you would really need is some vinegar, water, and a colander or salad spinner.
Pour about half a cup of white vinegar and two and a half cups of water into a large bowl. Soak the berries for a few minutes in the mixture.
Mold spores and bacteria, which make your strawberries go bad faster, will be killed by the vinegar. Once they are solid, put them in containers or bags and put them in the freezer.

Conclusion: Dryness is Key!

As was already said, moisture is the worst enemy, so strawberries need to be completely dry before you store them, no matter how you wash them. Pat them dry with paper towels, making sure to soak up as much water as possible, and then let them dry completely on new paper towels.

After you clean and dry them, you should put them in an airtight container with paper towels inside. This will help get rid of any extra water. If you wash and store strawberries the right way, they should last about two weeks in the fridge.

Remember that if you see a strawberry starting to go bad, you should take it out so that the mold doesn’t spread to the rest. Apart from how to clean strawberries, you can read more informative and entertaining articles here.

Keep Reading: Tips and Tricks in Cooking

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about How to Clean Strawberries?

What is the best way to clean strawberries?

Put the berries in a large bowl and wash them in a mixture of 1 cup of white vinegar and 8 cups of water. Let the berries soak in the vinegar-water bath for a few minutes. Gently move the berries around to get rid of any dirt or grime, and let the vinegar kill any spores or bacteria.

What happens when you soak strawberries in salt water?

Soaking strawberries in salt water will help dislodge any hidden dirt or bugs. Even though it’s normal for berries to still have some residue on them (and we eat them this way most of the time), soak your berries in salt water if you’re worried about the residue.

Do you wash strawberries with salt or vinegar?

Both can be used to wash strawberries, but neither is necessary—just water will do. But if you want to wash with salt, you can mix 1 teaspoon of salt with 2 cups of warm water.

Should strawberries be washed in vinegar?

The best way to get rid of pesticides from strawberries is to put them in a bath of vinegar. Mix one part white vinegar with four parts water in a bowl, and then let the strawberries soak in the bowl for 20 minutes. To get rid of the vinegar, wash the strawberries well with cold fresh water.

Is It Better To Wash Strawberries With Salt Or Vinegar?

Both ways are good for cleaning strawberries before you eat them or use them in a recipe, but using vinegar may leave a slight vinegary taste if you don’t wash them well again afterward.

Salt might be an easy way to clean strawberries. This is especially true if you grew the strawberries yourself and are more worried about bugs than pesticides.

What happens if you soak strawberries in vinegar?

The mold on the strawberries can be killed by putting a mixture of vinegar and water on them. With vinegar, you can clean berries well and get rid of any dirt or bugs that might be on them. The taste of your berries won’t change if you soak them in vinegar.

Is it better to wash fruit with vinegar or baking soda?

Most people think that baking soda is the best way to wash fruits and vegetables because its alkalinity helps to neutralize many common pesticides that are acidic.

How long do strawberries last after soaking in vinegar?

You can use a vinegar bath for up to two weeks. One of the great things about vinegar is that it kills bacteria, so soaking your strawberries in it will keep them fresher for longer. Don’t be afraid that your berries will taste like vinegar.

What ratio of vinegar to water to clean strawberries?

Make a vinegar bath with 1 cup vinegar and 3 cups water in a large bowl and dip your berries in it. Mold and bacteria will die when you use vinegar.

Does washing berries in vinegar really work?

It’s easy: When you get them home, give them a quick bath in a solution of vinegar and water, dry them off, and put them in a clean container lined with paper towels. With this method, they can last up to 10 days in our house. The vinegar kills any mold that could make them go bad.

How do you wash and store fresh strawberries?

Let the strawberries soak for five minutes. Drain and rinse berries in plain water. Put berries on paper towels or towels to dry for at least 20 minutes, until they are completely dry. Keep the berries in the fridge in an open container that lets air in.