What’s the best way to store strawberries? Popular methods put to the test

Crimson, plump, juicy and sweet-tart, fresh strawberries are a treasure to behold. When we catch them on sale at the grocery store, spot a table full of them at the farmers market, or spend the afternoon picking our own at a farm, it’s easy to get carried away and find ourselves with an abundance of berries. Once we take our haul home, a sense of dread slips in: What do we do with all of these strawberries?

There are lots of options — such as baking into desserts, freezing or making jam — but with the best berries, nothing beats eating them in their natural state. Unfortunately, a strawberry’s peak is short-lived. “Thanks to their thin skin and fragile structure, they only last a few days, even in cold storage,” Harold McGee wrote in “On Food and Cooking.”

Once picked, strawberries are best consumed as soon as possible. But you can’t always eat an entire berry bounty in one sitting. People tout a number of methods for storing strawberries to make them last as long as possible, so I decided to put them to the test.

The methods I tried included: the original plastic clamshell the berries arrived in; an Oxo produce-keeper; a sealed glass jar; a vinegar and cold tap-water wash before drying and storing in a glass container lined with a towel with the lid ajar; and a hot tap-water wash before drying and storing in a glass container lined with a towel with the lid ajar. For each test, I started by sorting through the berries, picking out any that looked like they were on their last legs so they wouldn’t drag the rest of the fruit down with them.

Here’s how the strawberries fared after I left them in the refrigerator for one week.

Vinegar and water

The idea behind this method is to use a mixture of vinegar and water to kill off any mold spores and bacteria on the surface of the berries, usually at a ratio of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Then, the berries get a quick rinse in the sink to get rid of the vinegar flavor and are dried before being placed in another container lined with towels with the lid left ajar. I believe the towels are there simply to add some cushion, and keeping the lid partially open avoids trapping too much moisture. “By washing your berries in a solution of vinegar and water, you can extend their shelf-life by days (sometimes even weeks!),” food writer Sarah Jampel wrote in Food52.

Alas, I did not find this to be the case. There was visible mold on at least a few of the berries I treated this way. Perhaps it was user error? I put the strawberries in a salad spinner to dry them, as Food52 recommends, but maybe they weren’t as dry as they should have been. Or perhaps the towel absorbed too much of the moisture exuded by the fruit, or the fridge was particularly humid, which in turn sped up their deterioration and negated the whole point of treating them in the first place.

Hot tap water

Similar to the vinegar solution, hot water can also kill mold and bacteria. While some people recommend using water around 125 degrees, Serious Eats editor Genevieve Yam found that there was “barely a discernible difference” compared to berries simply rinsed in hot tap water, which comes in around 109 degrees. After rinsing, I followed the same steps as above, drying the berries in a salad spinner and placing them in a container lined with towels the lid ajar.

Unfortunately, I experienced nearly the same results as the vinegar wash — although there was perhaps slightly more mold in this batch. And as with the previous method, user error could be a factor if the berries were not dried as thoroughly as they could have been.

Sealed glass jar

This is a method I’ve seen on my social media feeds. And I will admit, they were perhaps the best-looking berries of the bunch after their stay in the fridge. However, there was a loud “pop” when I opened the jar, making me fear it could explode if the strawberries continued to stay in there. And the longer they stay in a sealed environment, the higher the chance of the flavor becoming unpleasant and the berries falling apart.

After one week, there was the slightest acidic aftertaste, as if the strawberries had begun to ferment, but overall they tasted fine. However, given the potential for exploding jars, this is not a method I would recommend anyone try at home.

Special storage container

There are a number of berry-storage containers available to help keep fruit from spoiling, many featuring a basket inside of another container with a lid that you can vent. The benefit is that the basket lifts the fruit from any water that collects in the bottom of the container and the vented lid allows air flow. (A colleague also loves her ceramic berry bowl, which could work similarly if loosely covered.)

These strawberries fared extremely well, with no signs of spoilage and no faint aftertaste. The only real downside is that it’s another item you would have to purchase and store. The one I purchased from Oxo cost about $20, but I hate the idea of having to find space in my small kitchen for a specialty item.

Original packaging

My preferred method, it turns out, is to simply store the strawberries in the container I purchased them in. The berries weren’t as plump and vibrant as those stored in the specialty container, but there was no mold, and this route required the least amount of work. (I’m lazy — sue me. But maybe you are too?)

Regardless of which storage method you use, remember that strawberries are best eaten within a few days, so it’s best to only buy as many as you think you can consume, cook and preserve within that time. If you accidentally forget about them in the back of the fridge and happen to come across a moldy berry or two, simply toss them. Taste one of the others, and if all is well, the rest are safe to consume — but do it soon.