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You've just brought in a bucket of strawberries from your backyard berry patch, farmer's market, or U-picker farm down the street. Now you're daydreaming about all those strawberry recipes and strawberry desserts you want to make, or you're daydreaming about munching on those berries straight out of the bowl.
Before you start mouthing those plump strawberries, you need to clean the strawberries. Cleaning strawberries is not a very complicated process. In fact, everything you need is probably right in your kitchen. But it is necessary for several reasons.
Here's how to properly clean strawberries, when to clean them, and why it's important to clean strawberries before eating.
See also: When is strawberry season?
4 important tips for washing strawberries
Before you pour a single cup of water over your berries, you need to know how to properly trim and wash strawberries. Consider these tips:
1. Wash your hands first. Your hands can transfer bacteria to your strawberries from kitchen surfaces, reusable grocery bags, market bags, and the like, so wash your hands before handling fruit.
2. Discard moldy berries. When sorting the berries for cleaning, discard any that are already soft. Fluffy berries can harbor mold, bugs, and bacteria. If you don't plan on eating the strawberries right away (rather than washing them for storage), check the berries for signs of bruising or small cuts. Berries begin to mold more quickly when they are damaged, and the mold can quickly spread to nearby strawberries.
3. Wash just before consumption. Strawberries are absorbent and the water encourages mold and rot on the delicate fruit. If possible, simply wash the berries right before eating or cooking with them. If you wash them early, be sure to dry them well, berries, stems and all.
4. Avoid costly product laundering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you don't use commercial cleaning products, soaps, or laundry detergents. Also, do not use bleach or sanitizers to clean food. These products can leave more chemicals behind than you take out.
How to clean strawberries
Whether you have a liter from the supermarket, a handful from your garden, or two buckets from the local farm, strawberries need to be washed before eating or cooking. Unwashed strawberries or other products can contain dirt, bacteria and small insects. Food can also contain pesticides from the growing process. Pesticides, as well as certain bacteria, can make you sick if you eat them.
That's why it's important to wash and clean strawberries before eating or cooking. Learn the four common ways to clean strawberries here. All are effective, so let personal preference (and available ingredients) guide you.
How to wash strawberries with water
Yes, simply rinsing with water has proven to be an effective method of cleaning strawberries. It's also the fastest.
Place the strawberries in a colander and rinse under cold running water for a few minutes. Gently rub each drill with your hand to loosen any stuck dirt.
Remove the strawberries from the sieve and pat dry. Eat the strawberries right away, or try a recipe like our Strawberry Vanilla Cake .
How to clean strawberries with vinegar
Vinegar is a humble cleaning and cooking agent. He really is a teacher. It can leave everything sparkling clean, from the dishwasher to the microwave .
You can also gently clean delicate fruits like strawberries, removing any pesticides and other chemicals that may be on the skin of the berries.
To clean strawberries with vinegar, first rinse the berries in a sieve under running tap water to remove coarse dirt particles. Next, pour four cups of water and one cup of distilled white vinegar into a large bowl or bucket. Dip the berries in the vinegar water bath and gently swirl the water by hand, wetting the berries several times.
Let the berries steep in the vinegar solution for five to ten minutes. You can see tiny spiders, black spots (probably fly larvae) or worms in the water. This is to be expected. A vinegar bath, like the saltwater bath detailed below, is a great way to get rid of the little bugs that call your strawberries home.
After five to ten minutes, put the strawberries in a colander and rinse again under cold water. The berries don't have time to absorb the flavor of the vinegar, and the final rinse removes the vinegar from the skins. Dry completely and eat or cook immediately.
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How to clean strawberries with baking soda
If you don't have vinegar, you can use another classic cleaner: baking soda. A 2017 study found that baking soda was the most effective at removing surface pesticides compared to tap water or bleach.
To clean strawberries with baking soda, first rinse the berries in a colander. Run cold tap water over each berry and gently rub your hands to loosen any dirt. Next, mix one teaspoon of baking soda in two cups of water. Dip the berries in water and let them soak for five minutes.
After this time, put the strawberries in a colander and rinse under cold tap water for a few minutes. Clean the berries and eat or cook them immediately.
How to clean strawberries with salt
Strawberries can sometimes serve as a small home for spiders, flies, and worms. Look, they grow on the ground and there are insects nearby. Happens.
Instead of getting upset about them, just give these tiny, creepy caterpillars an eviction order before you're about to eat or cook the berries by soaking the strawberries in a brine solution.
Mix a solution of 3 teaspoons of salt and 3 cups of warm water (or use a 1 teaspoon to 1 cup water ratio for as much as you need). Let the water cool down completely. Then soak the berries in cold water for five minutes.
After this time, put the strawberries in a colander. Rinse the berries in cold tap water for a few minutes. Dry completely.
The salt in the water is diluted so that the berries don't absorb any of the salt during the brief soak. The final rinse removes any saltiness that settles on the skin of the berries.
When to wash strawberries
You should not wash strawberries before you plan to eat or cook them. Why? Washing strawberries beforehand is a recipe for soft, moldy fruit. Excess water on the skin of fresh berries causes them to rot quickly.
If you still want to wash the berries before putting them in the fridge, be sure to dry the berries and green stems thoroughly before placing them in a container. It is important to remove as much water as possible. The berries may not last as long as if you wash them just before eating, but they will stay in the fridge for several days after washing.
Why wash strawberries?
Strawberries are porous and will absorb pesticides and chemicals used to keep them pest free and bright during the growing process. As a result, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) placed strawberries at the top of its annual Dirty Dozen list , a compilation of fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of pesticides based on testing conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services and United States Agriculture (USDA ) . and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA ).
Even organic berry growers use chemicals to keep pests away from soft berries. Washing and cleaning strawberries is just a smart move to remove as much residue as possible to limit exposure to chemicals you don't want in your food.
Related: How to Freeze Strawberries
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