Washing strawberries ensures you and your family don’t consume any unnecessary grime, bugs, or chemicals (because no one wants a contaminated strawberry shortcake). So before you take out the produce-friendly soap and brush, read our simple, time-saving method.
Preparation
First and foremost, don’t wash your strawberries until you’re ready to cook with or eat them. Strawberries have a sponge-like quality that causes them to suck up as much moisture as possible. Unfortunately, if you wash your berries in advance and then store them, they will spoil much more quickly.
How to Rinse Strawberries
If you are buying organic (and pesticide-free) berries from a farmer’s market or another local source, you can rinse them in cool water before laying them out on a dish towel or paper towel to dry. Then, you’re ready to slice, bake, or pop into your mouth. If your fresh local strawberries seem dirty, you can also use the vinegar method below to remove excess grime. However, don’t use a produce brush because that could damage the fragile exterior or crush the berry entirely.
What You’ll Need
ColanderRunning waterClean cloth or paper towel
Steps
How to Wash Strawberries
If you’re buying strawberries from the grocery store, and especially if they’ve been grown conventionally using pesticides, you will want to take a few more steps before consumption. Strawberries are one of the most highly sprayed conventional crops out there, and you want to minimize the pesticides you and your family are consuming. Additionally, the journey from big farm to grocery store shelf is a long one, and your berries have been handled by many different people and exposed to different conditions. Needless to say, it’s worth a few extra moments to make sure your fruit is clean as can be.
What You’ll Need
White vinegar Water Large bowl with a colander Clean cloth or paper towel
