How to Make your Strawberries Last Longer

I LOVE FRUIT- and I LOVE TO LEARN WAYS TO MAKE MY FRUIT LAST LONGER ON THE SHELF {or in the fridge}. I have heard all sorts of different ideas on washing before storing, not washing till you eat, soaking for an extended amount of time (as outlined in my Two For One Strawberry Recipe post) and more for how to make berries last in the fridge.  AND I've had a few friends tell me now that they have made the plunge and experimented with rinsing their Strawberries in Vinegar Water to help preserve their freshness.  The concept made sense to me, so I thought I would give it a try this last time I purchased a flat of Strawberries from Bountiful Baskets.

I started out by pouring Regular White Vinegar about 1/10th of my LARGE bowl full.  [As ALMOST ALWAYS, I didn't measure- measuring isn't fun].  I then dumped about half of my Strawberries into the bowl and filled to the top with water.

I let the berries soak for about 5 minutes and then I gently pushed the berries floating at the top down into the water a few times to make sure all the berries were getting equal soaking time.

After another 5 minutes  [10 minutes total], I laid paper towels out on my counter and let my Strawberries dry.  I left them out for about an hour, and then I patted them dry with another paper towel.

I made sure to also rinse the plastic containers I was using to store my berries in with the vinegar water before returning them to the container for storage.  If I skipped this step I would be risking re-transferring the bacteria, or whatever it is that causes the berries to start to mold back onto the berries.  I simply dipped the plastic containers in the vinegar water a few times and patted dry with a paper towel.

I had a neighbor to thank for keeping an eye on our home while we went to the cabin, so I decided to make them a Strawberry Pie and one for my little family to enjoy for dessert for a few days, so I cut up a lot of the Strawberries then to put in my pies.
What remained was 3 clam shells of preserved Strawberries that I put in the fridge.

The berries I purchased on July 13th, were still fresh and juicy on July 27th!!! I would definitely say that rinsing them in Vinegar helped them last longer- and they tasted AWESOME!

In case you are wondering how I make my Strawberry Pie, I make it just like my Momma taught me.

• Wash and cut Berries
• Mix 1 container of Marie's Strawberry Glaze with the cut berries
• Bake an empty pie shell and let it cool
• Gently spoon the Glazed Strawberries into the Baked Pie Shell
• Refrigerate and serve chilled

{Photo borrowed from Google Images- My pie crust didn't bake pretty and I was embarrassed}

The neighbors loved their strawberry pie, and we enjoyed ours for 3 nights after dinner.

I highly recommend soaking your Strawberries in Vinegar Water- it does make them last longer!

Do you have any other berry preserving tips?  I'd love it if you share!