How to Keep Strawberries Longer

Most strawberry lovers share a common complaint about the sweet, delicious and highly perishable fruit. Once purchased, the berries always seem to rot within several days. That's because strawberries should be eaten within one or two days of picking them. Strawberries offered by grocery stores have often traveled for thousands of miles over several days, and they must be eaten immediately. The key to keeping your strawberries viable for as long as possible is to choose the ones with the best chances of storing for a few days longer.

Things You'll Need

• Fresh strawberries
• Colander
• Paper towels
• Plastic container with lid
• Paring knife
• Cookie sheet
• Plastic food storage bags

Instructions

Select Strawberries With Care

1. Carefully examine the strawberries that you are considering for purchase. Open the container; look at every single berry. Take them out of the container if you can't visually inspect some of them. Don't be shy -- it's your money that you'll be spending. Don't throw it away on rotten fruit.

2. Look for strawberries that are overly ripe or rotten, juice stains on the sides or bottom of the container, and surface moisture like rain or dew. Rotten berries may have some fungus growing on them or some brown discoloration, and they will rapidly infect the other pieces with rot, particularly if not refrigerated. The presence of fruit juice stains is an indication of damaged strawberries, which will fungus and rot very quickly. Surface moisture on the berries facilitates and hastens damage and rot to the fruit.

3. Cool your strawberries as soon as you can. Take a small cooler with ice in it with you when you go to purchase the berries so that you can chill them immediately, particularly if you're not going home right away. Don't even consider buying strawberries that are sitting outside, especially if they're in direct sunlight. Overheating destroys the storage capacity of the strawberries, and it hastens rot.

4. Inspect the strawberries again as soon as you get home. Sort the fruit carefully for any damaged or rotted pieces. Discard them. Line a plastic container with dry paper toweling, and place the berries in it. Cover and refrigerate the container. Don't wash the strawberries until you're ready to use them.

Freeze the Strawberries

1. Remove the caps from the strawberries with a sharp paring knife. Rinse them in cold running water. Drain them in a colander. Dry each one thoroughly with paper toweling, taking great care to leave no moisture on them. Don't soak them in water, which deprives the berries of flavor and nutrients. Don't add any sugar.

2. Place the strawberries on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Make sure that none of them are touching each other.

3. Freeze the strawberries completely for about 24 hours.

4. Portion the frozen strawberries into plastic food storage bags, and put the bags into the freezer.

Tips & Warnings

• Strawberries sold by farmers markets have usually been picked within the past 24 to 48 hours.

• Fall strawberries rot even more quickly than the summer fruit. That's due to the planting field's disease accumulation during the fruiting season.