Today I want to talk about berries, yes berries, delicious, tasty, juicy berries. Now as much as I love stuffing them into my face, I like I imagine everyone else are frustrated by their short shelf life. Not only are they delicate but it turns out they, like a lot of other things, have mould spores on them. These two factors combined prevent them from being able to last that long once you’ve got them home from the supermarket shelves or if you’re picking them, from your local bush. Berries from the supermarket can often have a shorter life span given that they spend a few days being shipped from the farm to the distributor to the store you purchase them from.
A couple of weeks ago an Interesting post turned up on one of my social media apps and since I saw it I have been busting to try it. I love eating berries, raspberries in particular but I don’t buy them often, mostly because when I get around to eating them they have all turned. If this post is true and I’ve seen plenty of recipes and posts that say it is, it might be a great little trick to extend the shelf life of one of our favourite snacks.
The first thing you need to do is to pick or purchase your desired berries. For the test, I chose raspberries and blueberries but you can go with whatever berries you have at hand. Then you will need to create a vinegar solution to wash them in. The process is as easy as it gets and I’ve listed it below.
- 1 cup of vinegar
- 3 cups of cold water
- Mix these two together in a large bowl or pot.
- Then gently immerse your berries, gently stirring them every now and then to ensure they get covered in the solution.
- Let them soak for 5 to 10 minutes then transfer them to a colander to drain off the solution and rinse the berries with fresh water to remove any excess vinegar water. At this point, the last thing you want is excess moisture on your berries as it can be just as bad as the mould spores.
- Then transfer them to a tray with a thick layer of paper towel to absorb the excess moisture. And allow them time to dry.
- Once they are dry place them in a container that has been lined with a paper towel and has enough room for the berries so they are not packed in on top of each other.
I have put some in the vinegar solution and will store them as I have outlined above. And I will leave some as they come in the packet. Every few days I will check in on them and see how the washed and unwashed berries are holding up. Next week I will post the results and hopefully it all works out well.
So until then have a good one and look after yourself.
Vandemonian Homesteader 
Leave a comment