The right way to clean strawberries

When should you wash strawberries?

You’ve just brought in a bucket of strawberries from the backyard berry patch, farmers’ market, or the U-pick farm down the road. Now you’re dreaming up all the strawberry recipes and sweet desserts you plan to make—or you’re dreaming of snacking on those berries right from the bowl.

Before you begin popping those plump strawberries into your mouth, you need to clean them. You must wash all strawberries—even if you purchased them at the grocery store—to remove pesticides, dirt, and any bugs hiding in your berries. Thankfully, cleaning strawberries isn’t an overly complicated process and you have all the ingredients in your kitchen, from clean-running water to vinegar.

Learn how to clean strawberries properly, when to clean them, and why washing them before eating them is important.

Why Clean Strawberries?

Strawberries are porous and absorb the pesticides and chemicals used to keep them pest-free and radiant during the growing process. As a result, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has put strawberries at the top of the annual Dirty Dozen list, a compilation of the fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticides based on testing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Even organic berry growers use chemicals to keep pests away from soft berries. So whether you buy a quart from the supermarket or two buckets from the local farm, you must wash strawberries before eating or cooking. Unwashed strawberries—or all produce, for that matter—carry dirt, bacteria, and tiny insects, in addition to pesticides from the growing process. Washing and cleaning strawberries is a smart move to remove as much residue as possible to limit exposure to chemicals and bacteria you wouldn’t want in your food.

Important Tips For Washing Strawberries

Before you pour a single cup of water over your berries, you should know a few things about cleaning and washing strawberries. Keep these tips in mind.

Wash Your Hands First

Your hands can transfer bacteria from kitchen surfaces, reusable grocery bags, market totes, and the like to your strawberries, so before you touch the fruit, wash your hands.

Discard Moldy Berries

As you’re sorting the berries to clean, trash any that are already mushy. Squishy berries may harbor mold, bugs, and bacteria. If you’re not planning to eat the strawberries immediately (washing them to store), check the berries for signs of bruising or minor cuts. The berries will mold faster if damaged, and the mold can quickly spread to nearby strawberries.

Wait To Wash Until Before You Eat

Strawberries are absorbent. Water invites mold and decays delicate fruits. Whenever possible, don’t wash your berries until immediately before you plan to eat or cook with them. If you still want to wash berries before storing them in the fridge, thoroughly dry them (as well as the green stems) before putting them in a container. You must remove as much water as possible. The berries will likely not last as long as if you left them unwashed until just before eating them, but they will still be good for several days in the fridge after washing.

Skip Expensive Produce Washes

The USDA recommends not using any detergent, soap, or a commercial produce wash. Also, do not use bleach or disinfecting agents to clean food. These products can leave behind more chemicals than you’re removing.

Storage Tip

To ensure your strawberries last, refrigerate them as soon as possible in the original clamshell, or in a container lined with a paper towel. But remember, strawberries taste best at room temperature, so let them warm up before serving.

How To Clean Strawberries With Water

Yes, the tried-and-true simple water rinse is an effective way to clean strawberries. It’s also the fastest.

1. Place the strawberries in a colander, and rinse them with cold water under the tap for several minutes.
2. Gently rub each strawberry with your hand to loosen any stuck-on dirt.
3. Remove the strawberries from the colander, and pat dry. Eat the strawberries immediately, or try a recipe like our Strawberry Vanilla Cake.

How To Clean Strawberries With Vinegar

Vinegar is an essential cleaning and cooking agent that can gently clean delicate fruits like strawberries and remove pesticides and other chemicals on the berries’ skins. A vinegar solution can also be effective at preventing mold and keeping your berries fresh for longer.

To clean strawberries with vinegar:

1. Rinse the berries in a colander under running tap water to remove large pieces of dirt.
2. Pour 4 cups of water and 1 cup of white distilled vinegar into a large bowl or bucket. Submerge the berries in the water-vinegar bath, gently agitate the water with your hand, dunking the berries several times.
3. Let the berries sit in the vinegar solution for 5-10 minutes. You may notice tiny spiders, black specks (likely fly larvae), or worms in the water. That’s normal. Like the saltwater bath described below, the vinegar bath is an excellent way to remove any tiny bugs calling your strawberries home.
4. After 5-10 minutes, move the strawberries to a colander, and rinse them with cold water. The berries won’t have time to absorb the vinegar flavor, and the final rinse will wash off any vinegar on the skins. Pat dry entirely and eat or cook immediately.

How To Clean Strawberries With Baking Soda

If you don’t have vinegar, you can use another classic cleaning agent: baking soda. One study found baking soda was more effective in removing surface pesticides when compared to tap water or bleach.

To clean strawberries with baking soda:

1. Rinse the berries in a colander. Run cold tap water over each berry and gently rub them with your hands to loosen the dirt.
2. Stir 1 teaspoon of baking soda into 2 cups of water. Submerge the berries in the water, and let soak for five minutes.
3. After that time has elapsed, move the strawberries to a colander, and rinse with cold tap water for several minutes. Pat the berries dry, and eat or cook them immediately.

How To Remove Bugs From Strawberries With Salt

Strawberries can sometimes serve as tiny homes for spiders, flies, and worms. They grow in the soil, and bugs are around. It happens. Instead of being grossed out, give those tiny creepy crawlers an eviction notice before you plan to eat or cook the berries by soaking the strawberries in a saltwater solution.

To clean strawberries with salt:

1. Mix up a solution of 3 teaspoons of salt and 3 cups of warm water (or use a ratio of 1 teaspoon to 1 cup of water, mixing up as much as you need). Let the water cool completely.
2. Soak the berries in the cooled water for five minutes.
3. After that time has elapsed, move the strawberries to a colander. Rinse the berries with cold tap water for several minutes. Pat dry completely. The salt dilutes in the water so that the berries won’t absorb any salinity during the brief soak. The final rinse will remove any saltiness on the berries’ skins.

Frequently asked Questions

Should you wash strawberries with soap?

No, you should avoid washing strawberries with soap. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that soaps can leave behind more chemicals than they remove.

Which fruits make the “Dirty Dozen” list?

Strawberries top the “Dirty Dozen” list, which includes fruits with high pesticide levels. Other fruits on this list are peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, grapes, cherries, and blueberries.

What is the best way to store fresh strawberries?

The best way to store fresh strawberries is to place them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. Make sure to remove any that are moldy and only wash or cut them right before you plan to eat them.

Read the original article on Southern Living