I LOVE strawberries and so does Henley, but I swear, whenever I splurge on them at the grocery store, they last a couple days before they are mushy and gross. That’s because I didn’t know that they needed a little extra love to last WAY longer! Ever since I’ve started treating them a little better, they last forever! I can’t even tell you how long exactly they’ll last with this method because they’ve never gone bad! We always eat them all before that happens, so I think that’s a good sign! It all comes down to two things, your washing method, and your storage method.

The first crucial step happens before the berries even hit your cart. Check out that carton. More often than not, there’s a sad, moldy berry buried at the bottom that is just waiting to spread that lovely mold to all of its friends, and we don’t want that! Look for cartons with plump, red berries that have NO MOLD and no mushy looking berries!

Wash

Then you bring those babies home and you’re ready to wash them. Fill a sink or large bowl with cold water & about 1/4 cup of vinegar. I usually use white vinegar, but apple cider vinegar will work too! The vinegar kills any mold spores that are still too small for us to see, but are laying in wait to pounce & infect the whole bunch, making the berries last way longer! Add the strawberries to the water & give it a good little stir with your hand. Let them sit in this water for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drain

Then drain the water or strain the berries in a colander and give them a good rinse to get rid of any lingering vinegar on them. Vinegar has its place, but I prefer it with my pickles, not my berries, so make sure to wash it all off!

Dry

Now we need to let them dry really well. You don’t want to store them with any excess moisture, because that will just help them turn soft faster. Lay them out in a single layer on a dish towel & let them air dry. I like to come & turn them every once in a while to help them out. And be patient. This can take over an hour sometimes, but you want to make sure they’re dry.

Cut

This is when you could go right to packing them up, but I like to take this extra step that makes it so much easier to snack on them & saves you time in the long run. I cut the tops off and then either halve or quarter the berries. It goes pretty quick when you do it all at once, as opposed to every time you want to eat a few berries. This also makes it easy for me to dump a few out on a kid’s plate, or quickly grab a couple to chop up on top of french toast, or just to grab & munch on!

Store

After I get them all cut how I like, I grab a glass mason jar or storage container & add a paper towel to the bottom. This helps absorb any excess juice or moisture so the berries aren’t sitting in it. Then I fill it with berries and store them in the fridge for later!

My favorite snap lid containers are these ones that have a good variety of sizes, & any mason jar will do! I love these reusable plastic lids for my jars!

With strawberry season coming up, keep this in your back pocket! It doesn’t take too long & helps keep them fresher, longer! My favorite ways to eat fresh strawberries is dipped in Nutella (tastes just lake a chocolate covered strawberry with none of the work!), dipped in fresh whipped cream, or chopped & mixed with a lil sugar to top crepes, pancakes, or french toast!

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