It's strawberry season!
I love this time of the year. When Farmer's Market smells wonderful, the air is full of strawberries. I go from farmer to farmer to see how much they are charging, how big the berries are and who is offering pesticide free berries.
Organic strawberries at my local Farmer's Markets are rare and very expensive. A few of the local growers offer berries they advertise as "unsprayed" or "no pesticides" as a piece of cardboard is cheaper and easier than organic certification. I know that conventional strawberries are on the list of fruits to eat organic - buying locally and "no pesticide" seems to be a reasonable (for my budget and health) compromise.
We mostly eat them raw - washed and sliced. Sometimes in a bowl of cereal, sometimes with some vanilla ice cream, sometimes on a waffle with whip cream. We buy them by the 1/2 flat (6 baskets) and even the flat when we want to put some in the freezer.
While strawberries are delicious they are also fragile. One day gorgeous and ready to eat, the next mushy and moldy. I have discovered how to help them keep.
Here's how...
When you get them home put them into a sealed plastic container - air tight. Don't wash them. Don't fuss with them. Just get them into a tuperware type container as soon as possible and then store them in the refrigerator. Most will keep a week or more.
Enjoy those strawberries while they are at their glorious best.
photo by: jslander (Flickr)
What a good tip!
ReplyDeleteMy strawberries always get moldy..especially here in the south where it's humid.
Have you heard of green bags? We have some..they are plastic and they keep produce fresher longer, but I haven't researched if there are chemicals in the bag that can leech into the food... It seems like they work, but I'm sort of suspicious of how;)
I've heard of green bags but haven't ever seen any or like you said understand how they work.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you find out.