If only I had known sooner how to wash my fruit so it would last longer. But on a beautiful spring day several years ago ( before I knew that Pinterest could show me how to do everything better) I drove over an hour to a farm to pick strawberries only to find that I was there an hour before they opened.
As I headed back to the car to figure out how to pass the time, the farmer told me he was not open because there was no one to work the register, but if I would like to begin picking, they should be there by the time I was done. He showed me the best area and I begin picking.
It was picturesque. Alone in the field in the cool of the morning I began picking. There was no one to compete with me for the best row. The berries were large, ripe perfect jewels and I could pull huge berries off their stem by the handfuls. In no time
I had several flats of berries. The farmer was right. Just as I finished, his staff showed up. I paid, loaded my car full of beautiful, ripe berries and headed home to make freezer jam.
The first thing I did was fill the sink with water and let the berries rinse for a few minutes then set them out to dry. Then I pulled out the box of pectin to consult the recipe. I had forgotten that it really doesn’t take that many berries to make a batch of jam. And I had five flats of berries! What was I thinking?!?
I realized in the perfection of the day, I had really gotten carried away. I frantically made jam for days, and had barely made a dent. I called friends and sold off berries I couldn’t use. I froze berries, ate berries, and made more jam. Still, the berries went bad before I could use them all.
Had I known about this fruit wash, I would not have lost nearly so many berries. It is so simple! Fill a large bowl of cool water. Then add vinegar. The Frugal Girls recommend a ratio of 10 cups to 1 cup. Jo-Anna at A Pretty Life fills her sink about half way and adds 1 cup vinegar as well. Let sit for about 10 minutes.
You don’t have to rinse the fruit again. There will be no vinegar taste. Just dry and store your fruits. I can’t believe how long my berries lasted in the fridge. Over a week later, they were getting soft, but not a sign of mold. Great tip! This season, I can feel more confident loading up on fresh fruit. I think I will make some Berries and Cream Fruit Salad.
P.S. I have used this on all my berries, fruit and veggies and find it works well on all of them!
Happy berry picking. This Pin Rocks!
Check out these great sites we are linking with today: The Rustic Pig – Home Stories A toZ – Carolyn’s Homework – A Bowl Full of Lemons – Chef in Training – Real Coake – Kitchen Meets Girl – The Real Housewives of Riverton – 733 Blog – Southern Lovely – Adorned From Above – The Life of Jennifer Dawn – Gooseberry Patch – Someday Crafts – Printabelle – Lady Behind the Curtain – And Sew We Craft – Gingersnap Crafts – Lil Luna
pinned! I had no idea either and during the summer my kiddo and I also go back and forth to a berry patch farm! good info
Thanks for pinning and commenting. Hope you strawberry picking goes well this year.
I recently heard about doing this and was planning on trying it out too! I’m glad it worked well. I will for sure be trying it out now, lol.
Now I use it for everything! Lettuce, tomatoes, apples, grapes, you name it! Glad you like the idea too.
So easy! Thanks for the tip…I always had trouble with my berries going bad too quickly. Hope this works!
Mary Grace,
I agree the beauty of this tip is the simplicity. It makes it so doable. I have had great success with. I think you will too.
Hey girl is this a new blog for you and your sisters? What a cute header! I was just reading about washing fruit and then saw your picture w/ your sisters, so then I was like I know her.
I will bookmark this!
Delilas,
So fun to get a comment from you! Too funny, I can’t believe it hasn’t come up in conversation at some point when we were at the lake. We started last year and are having a great time with it.
Great tip girls especially as we come into the berry season! I am definitely going to try this out the next time I buy berries. 🙂 Pinning this now so I remember. 🙂 I am following you through G+ and bloglovin now.
Thanks Krista. You are on my blog roll as well. Glad you like the idea and thanks for coming by to give us a look.
Definitely pinning this for future reference. Too many times I’ve had to toss out fruit because it has gone bad so quickly! Thanks for sharing, I found you through Lil Luna’s Link Party!
Becky,
We love getting pinned! Thank you. So glad you found us!
Wow, I’ve never heard of this method. Very neat to be able to naturally extend the life of the berries. I will keep this in mind when we go berry picking.
Thanks so much for linking up at the Real Family Fun link party! Hope to see you next week.
KC
We will definitely be back. So kind of you to come over and comment. Enjoy your berries.
I only tried this with strawberries and I tried it about 5 times. I found that it didn’t work if the berries were already starting to go bad, but if they were fresh, they did look nice for a lot longer. HOWEVER the berries developed a weird taste towards the end because of the vinegar. I would only soak them for 30 minutes to maybe and hour and a half (if I forgot about them) and I didn’t notice any taste different in the beginning.
Krista, Glad they helped your fresh berries last longer. Don’t forget to use it on lettuce, veggies, apples, etc. I have never let mine soak for longer than 10-15 minutes. I guess all the veggies and fruit in my house has been consumed before it could get a taste of vinegar. Thanks for letting us know your results.
Does it matter if it is white vinegar or ACV? Does this solution actually clean the fruits and veggies well enough to get rid of any pesticides, etc. that have been sprayed on them?
I use white vinegar. There are two things at play here in getting your produce clean. The vinegar reduces bacteria and viruses and then rinsing will remove any additional pesticides. Here is a great article from the NY Times to back this up. And here is a study about using vinegar to clean produce. Hope this helps, Diane!
So white vinegar or Apple cider vinegar?! 🙂
Either one is fine. I usually use white. Enjoy!
I see from the post and the comments that the vinegar wash works on strawberries. Does it also work
on raspberries,blueberries and blackberries? I would love to try this.
It does, Linda! I have used it on veggies as well. Even lettuce!