I am a lover of fresh strawberries, especially when they are in season and the price is good. The problem is, if you buy more than you can eat in one sitting, you are faced with the problem of how to keep them fresh. After ruining our share of berries, my wife and I have come up with an easy system that works.
These strawberries are over a week old and they still taste great:
To achieve this we do the following:
- Remove not just the top, but the entire core as soon as you get them home. This is the trick. It doesn’t take much time and it is well worth the trouble. If you are in a hurry, at the very least slice off the top to remove the leaves. There is something about the leaves that promotes decay even in the refrigerator. When we remove the entire core they stay fresh much longer.
- Keep the berries refrigerated. With the core removed I haven’t seen strawberries mold in the regrigerator. If they are stored too long they will eventually start to “wilt” and lose flavor, but they don’t get the rotten patches that are so common.
- Keep the berries covered. This prevents them from drying out, which can happen in a refrigerator.
- Don’t allow the berries to freeze, unless that is your purpose. A few times our refrigerator has been too cold and froze the strawberries. They aren’t much fun to eat after that.