When kept in the refrigerator up to+50C, strawberries from the patch retain their freshness and flavor for up to 4 days. There is no telling how long supermarket berries will last without freezing, because it takes a long time from the time they are picked to the time they appear on the counter.
How do you store strawberries in the refrigerator if the tender berry quickly leaks juice, loses its shape, and gets moldy? At room temperature it will last up to 7 hours, will last a few days on the top shelf of the refrigerator, in the freezer will live until next season.
If the product is to be eaten within a day, the fruit is spread out on a flat dish, covered with foil on top, and sent to the bottom shelf. Alternatively, a tray is taken, the bottom is lined with a paper towel, and the strawberries are placed in one layer. The top remains open.
How to choose
Just a glance around the container with the contents is enough to determine its quality on the spot as well. Indicators of the freshness of the crop:
- scarlet skin color;
- green stalks with a tight fit to the base;
- Absence of water at the bottom, berries sticking together.
If the walls are densely stained with juice or you can see fragments of pulp on them, you should not buy the produce. Maybe the plantation owners missed the moment of harvesting and didn’t harvest in time – 2 days before peak ripeness. Much depends on the variety. Early perishable varieties already lose their attractive appearance after a few hours. It is better to choose winter hard varieties without a soft cavity.
Sorting
After a plastic box is delivered from the store, its contents are immediately sorted. Examples without tails are sent to the mouth. Damaged fruits are immediately removed, otherwise at the speed of a virus, mold spores will begin to multiply and in a few hours the surface will be covered with moss. Can I store strawberries in the refrigerator with a barely visible stain? Juicy berries – an ideal environment for bacteria. For this reason, products for storage are not pre-washed. Immediately before using, the berries are poured into a colander, cleaned under a strong stream. When the excess water is gone, the stalks are cut off.
How to store fresh strawberries if the package turned out to be a lot of spoiled fruit? Water with 1:3 vinegar kills microorganisms. The berries are treated piece by piece with a sprayer or dipped for a couple of seconds in a bowl of acidic water, dried on a towel. After sorting, containers with ventilation are selected for long-term storage:
- corrugated tray;
- cardboard box;
- plastic pinette with holes.
If strawberries don’t spoil for a long time, it’s a consequence of careful treatment with chemicals. It’s up to the hostess to decide whether they are worth eating or making a winter strawberry.
How to preserve fresh strawberries for the winter
The value of freezing is the preservation of the useful properties, the possibility of breathing in the flavors of summer in winter. So that after thawing the fruit does not resemble mush, dry specimens are selected. Berries of equal size are spread out on a flat tray with food film (cutting board) are sent to the freezer for about 3 hours. The icicles are poured into bags. Having previously removed the air, the ends are tied.
Dry freezing.
How to properly store frozen strawberries in the refrigerator, using the chamber volume sparingly? Briquettes with frozen fruit are given a flat shape, which allows you to stack them. Alternatively, the ice balls are arranged in layers in plastic containers with their tails facing up. The containers are closed with lids on top. If they are not tightly fixed to the base, the boxes are additionally fixed with clerical rubber bands.
Strawberries in chocolate, sugar
Freezing whole berries is acceptable in different ways. If you dip the washed fruits in melted chocolate before sending them to the chamber, the Christmas dessert for champagne is ready. For this, you need hard selected fruits, otherwise the juice will make the sweet glaze crack. Strawberries are kept for 3 minutes in a skate, liqueur and then covered with chocolate on skewers. If desired, they are sprinkled with coconut shavings. Candies are spread out on foil and frozen.
In a simplified version, the crop is distributed in layers, where each layer is sprinkled with sugar. The containers are kept at room temperature until the crystals are incompletely dissolved, then sent for long-term storage. If there are a lot of berries, but they are not strong, it is better to make a puree instead of jam. The mass is portioned out in trays. Delicious filling for baking, billet for kissel is ready.
Dacha owners assure us that the natural sweetness is lost in the refrigerator. They prefer to take the basket to the basement, putting nettles on top. Within 3 days, the berries are as from the bed.
