When Berries Go On Sale!
I recently went to the grocery store and was super excited to see that organic berries were on sale. I mean really check out these amazing prices!
- Organic Blueberries ~ 2 pkg for $4.00
- Organic Raspberries ~ 2 pkg for $4.00
- Organic Strawberries ~ 2 pounds for $3.50
So what does this sale mean? Buy, Buy Buy!! But before I buy, buy buy, I had to figure out how to prevent mold from growing on organic berries!
Why Organic Berries Get Mold?
I mean really, have you spent $5.00 on a small container of raspberries before only to realize the next morning there is mold growing on them? You haven’t even had them for 24 hours yet!
So why is it that mold grows so quickly on organic berries? Organic berries are not sprayed with pesticides or have not been processed with chemicals to preserve food for a longer shelf life.
Molds are saprophytes and grow on organic material. Molds are everywhere and are airborne. When the mold spores land they will germinate and grow on favorable environments. Mold can not create their own energy source and they can only grow on organic material because it supplies a source of carbohydrate because they can not photosynthesis. In a nutshell, organic matter is the food source for mold. (source)
Organic berries are a perfect environment for mold spores to cling onto and grow quickly.
This has happened way to many times to me so I set out to find a solution on how to prevent mold from growing on organic berries.
The Solution
So there is a quick solution to this problem. When you get home from the market, place all your berries into a bowl.
- Add 8 parts filtered water and 1 part vinegar. You can use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar.
- Gently stir and allow your berries to soak for 20 minutes.
- Drain and rinse berries and line a cookie sheet with paper towels and allow your berries to completely dry.
- Once dry, put them back in the containers and store in refrigerator.
The vinegar kills the mold spores and prevents them from growing on the berries.
Your berries should now last at least a week and the organic strawberries will last even longer.
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I do this with all my fruits and veggies and they last sooo much longer!
I read your articles on growing strawberries and tomato’s and the advice has really helped! :). Could you share some advice on what you use to fertilize your berries, how you amend and prep your raised beds, etc. One of the biggest things I’ve noticed about raised bed gardening is that it could seem expensive. A lot of the “raised garden bed soil mixes” are so expensive. I, also, think that it’s easy to overdo or underdo the soil. What do you do? I know that my deceased great grandmother would just throw her egg shells, fish carcasses, cow manure/bunny manure, and compost right out in the garden. She, also, pumped water right out of the lagoon to water it. She had the biggest tomato’s and sweetest corn around. People bought her produce from all over. Sweet memories!
You know what Jennifer, I love your memory! Thanks for sharing! I will do a post on all of this information this week, sound good?
What a great idea and so simple. I usually wash and let my berries dry, but never thought about washing them in a diluted vinegar solution. Brilliant!
Do not use white vinegar if you care about going organic. It’s made from GMO corn.
kf4hpohttps://www.facebook.com/groups/160047227502008/
ArianaLeondra kf4hpo 🙂
kf4hpo Thanks for letting me know…I had no idea it was GMO.
I’m going to do this next time I buy berries!!
I have grapes that are 4 years old. They brix tested at 23 showing
they were very dense in mineral sugars and so they simply dehydrated
like all healthy high brix food does. No mold in 4 years. I plant to
keep for another 4 years.
What a great idea! We eat so many berries, but I don’t buy too many at a time because of this very problem. So, I will certainly try it. Thanks for sharing.
Sunshine, berries – life doesn’t get much better than that!
Great tip!
I have been using the vinegar/water method for a while now and it really works well.
I’ve tried this twice now, & have decided that I must have overly-sensitive taste buds. Being super porous, berries start absorbing the vinegar immediately, so I use the same “swish” method I use for so-called leafy greens & all soft produce: i.e., swish them around for just 30 seconds in a large bowl full of water & 1/4 cup of organic apple cider vinegar, then rinse them thoroughly. Even then, I still taste the vinegar on the berries, but it’s orders of magnitude less noticeable than with the 20-minute soak method. BTW, I suggest you use organic vinegar; otherwise, the higher price you paid for organic produce was wasted.
Good call on the organic vinegar. I always use organic, sometimes I just don’t write it into the post. Thanks for bringing that up!
So why is it that when I buy 2 lb pack of Organic Blueberries from Costco they keep for over a week in the fridge with no mold? In fact I bet they would keep even longer with no mold, but we eat them that fast. I think they may have been sprayed even though it said Organic and Im now wondering about the safety of eating them at all.
Thank you for the white vinegar gmo tip. I had no idea. Oh well, I guess its still good for cleaning the shower!
I find that blueberries don’t mold as fast as other berries. Raspberries are the worst followed by strawberries.