Make Berries Last Longer

Sure, I might put some berries on a salad or something and then throw on some vinegrette, but I think that’s as close as my berries and vinegar should get to each other.

Or should they?

I thought this was the weirdest thing when I first tried it.  I saw it somewhere on Pinterest.  Buying beautiful berries only to have them go rotten in a day or two drives me CRAZY.  I thought it was worth a try.

It totally works.  I had a batch of black berries (probably the ones pictured) that lasted a FULL week in my fridge.  I bet without the vinegar rinse they would’ve gone a day or two.

BTW, if you’re looking for home routines that can save you time and stress — I love THIS course.  Just gets us on course every day!

So, open all the cartons, and remove that little paper/plastic thingy on the bottom.  You want to leave that area clear to let the water flow out.  Or, if you’re eating them right away I prefer using a strainer.  This one is my favorite.  Washes well, doesn’t rust, great size for a can of beans or a container of berries.1

Get a 4 cup measure (love using these oxo ones, they pour so nicely), and add 1/2 cup of vinegar, then fill the rest with water (so, the water isn’t very vinegar-y).  I did this much water for 5 containers of black berries.

Then just pour the liquid over the berries.  I like to line them up in my dish drainer so they can just hang out and drain after for a bit.  I then do another 4 cups of plain water.  Be careful as you do this that the water is gentle on the berries.  We know they’re fragile creatures.

After the berries drain for a few minutes I close the containers, and give them a little shake to make sure I got off as much water as I could.  I then stack them in the fridge on a paper towel until my kids eat them by the handfulls and they disappear.

**I think the vinegar kills any spores that are lingering on the berries so they don’t go moldy.  I’m not really sure why though, I only know it works!

I LOVE good berries, and this allows me to buy a few containers at once and not worry they’ll be bad the next day.

A few other berry tips:

While I use the containers from the store I think that something like this would make it EXTRA easy. Sometimes the containers in the store have that plastic moisture plastic paper and that would eliminate that, and be helpful.

I am also a HUGE Fan of putting these at the bottom of my crisper drawer. It helps keep it cleaner, I just change them out once a month and I think the items stay better longer since it wicks-up moisture. What do you think — would you find that helpful?

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