One of my biggest pet peeves is getting produce from the grocery store and it going bad before I even get to start eating it! The problem was I had always heard (specifically remember from an episode of Rachel Ray) to NOT wash (with water) your berries before you were ready to eat them. Well when you have a toddler who LOVES to eat blueberries by the handfuls literally, it's almost impossible to not wash them and let them sit. The problem with washing the fruit with water only when you aren't going to eat them right away is that the moisture allows bacteria to build up on the fruit and grow mold. GROSS!
Well I'm here to tell you there is a way to have your berries and eat them too! And you won't believe how simple it is! AND this works for cleaning all produce you don't peel vegetables included!
As soon as you get your produce home (or within a day if you get too busy), put everything into a bowl or sink filled with cool water (just turn on the cold water). I have an open farmhouse sink so I have to use a bowl to do this. If I'm cleaning a lot of produce, I have a professional size metal prep bowl that I put everything in. Then simply pour a splash of white distilled vinegar into the water. The amount of vinegar depends on the amount of water/amount of produce being cleaned. I use about 2 tablespoons for this small amount of strawberries and just increase it as the water or produce number increases. There's really no set amount. Once you have added the vinegar to the water, toss in your produce (strawberries for me today as seen in the picture below).
Once you have added your fruit to the vinegar water, just give it a little swirl with your hand. I usually do this 2-3 times while it's "cleaning" because the fruit floats and I want to make sure all the little cracks and crannies get cleaned and coated with the vinegar water.
Let the produce sit in the water for about 15-20 minutes and rinse with cold water again. Put the produce into a bowl or container and put in the fridge or pantry depending on the produce and where you are supposed to store it (like apples). That's it! It's really that simple!
The blueberries in the photo below were bought a week and a half ago! Not one of them is even wrinkled!
I hope you enjoyed this little foodie tidpit and as always, thanks for stopping by!
~Ashley Berry
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