Strawberries will stay fresh 'for weeks' with 1 key ingredient

A cooking expert has explained how you can keep strawberries fresh for up to two weeks with one ingredient. Food writer and cooking teacher Sheri Castle shared the tip with PBS North Carolina.

Sheri explained: "Ripe strawberries are a treat, but they can go from perfect to bad overnight." She added: "These simple steps will keep your berries fresh for days, perhaps up to two weeks. It's easy."

The expert advised: "Make a vinegar bath with one part vinegar to three parts water. Yes, the ordinary vinegar you keep in the kitchen cabinet eliminates bacteria and mold spores on the berries, which helps them stay fresh."

She said to soak the berries for ten minutes. Next, drain the fruit and rinse them under cold water to remove any traces of vinegar.

"It's important to dry the berries as thoroughly as possible after their bath because clinging moisture is the enemy of ripe berries," the cooking teacher said. For her part, she used her salad spinner. Sheri lined the spinner with paper towels to cushion the berries before using the gadget.

Finally, once the strawberries are completely dry, store them in the fridge. "Instead of putting the berries back into the container they came in, place them in a sealable container lined with paper towels and leave the lid partially open to avoid trapping moisture. Then into the fridge they go."

The expert said it's well worth taking a few extra minutes to prepare your fruit so that it lasts longer, and viewers loved the tip, reports Express.co.uk. Someone asked how best to dry the fruit if you don't have a salad spinner, and a commenter replied: "Lay them out on a towel on the countertop. They take 2-3 hours to dry that way."

The vinegar tip won high praise when food website The Kitchn tested several strawberry storage methods. A writer compared various storage tips and found that strawberries soaked in vinegar solution and dried in a salad spinner fared best.

"By the end of the week practically none of the strawberries had gone bad. I didn’t have to discard a single one and the only noticeable spoilage was a few dark spots here and there. And because the berries were thoroughly dried in a salad spinner, the paper towel was still practically completely dry by day seven," the tester said.

"This method takes time and effort to do, but depending on how many strawberries you have (or how expensive they were) it’s definitely worth it. The strawberries stayed fresh, vibrant, and firm the entire week and showed practically no signs of spoilage."

It's worth noting that the tip could affect how the fruit tastes. Martha Stewart's website says: "Using distilled white vinegar is considered the best way to deep-clean strawberries. The vinegar can help remove mold spores, potentially keeping them fresher longer. However, some say the vinegar harms the strawberries and can impact their flavor, but you can experiment to see if you prefer this method of cleaning."