This is likely the first of many parts. It’s not easy, but I will confess – I didn’t used to wash my fruits and vegetables before eating them. Saying it sounds dirty. Because it was. We’re beyond it now, but with that comes lessons learned.
Before J was born our idea of a nice Saturday morning was waking up, whenever the mood struck us (can anyone remember how glorious that was?!) making coffee and breakfast together and then shuffling to our family room to watch The Kitchen on the Food Network. Confession two, sometimes we had to watch the DVR’d version because we slept in past 10a.
One episode that really changed me was about how to keep your fruits and veggies fresh. I can’t remember all the hacks, but there is one that I use every week now and as it finally feels like summer is approaching I thought this would be timely to share.
In transit food comes into contact with all kinds of things, berries in particular can become home to mold spores (gross in general) that can eat and your berries and spoil them more quickly. Now, just because I wasn’t always good about washing my fruits/veggies doesn’t mean I hadn’t heard a thing or two about how to keep them fresh. Previously, I’d been of the school that if you washed your produce it would immediately start to turn on you. Contrary, when it comes to fresh berries, the best thing you can do is give them the right kind of rinse and storage.
Now that they’re starting to get sweeter I’m buying about two pounds of strawberries every week. It’s mostly just me eating them, but J has starting taking a liking to them as well. WIthout this hack, I fear my berries would not be staying as fresh all week and I absolutely hate having to throw away food.
Here’s how you too can save your berries! Before storing them after purchase pluck any greens/leaves off. Place in a bowl and fill with water and 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (white or I prefer apple cider). Let your berries soak for 5-10 minutes – or if you forget about them in the sink for a few hours…that’s fine too. The vinegar will eat away any of the mold spores lurking and the soak allows all of the dirt and other gross things to drift to the bottom of the bowl. Pull the berries out and into a strainer and give them a good cool rinse. From there, let them air dry, or pat dry and store them in a glass container lined with paper towel. Voila, fresh berries for up to a week!
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