Best way to keep strawberries?

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
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I just bought 2 lbs. of fresh strawberries (BOGO), and I'm hoping to keep them for 2 weeks, slicing a few on my cereal every morning.

I've washed them and drained them on paper towels. Now what?

Should I keep them in a collander? Or in the plastic containers they came in?

Refrigerated, I assume?

TIA!

Lee

P.S. I know you know what strawberries look like, but they made such a pretty picture, I had to post it! LOL!
 

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Phiddlechik

New member
I was going to say don't wash them until you use them, they last longer that way. Not sure if they'll keep for two weeks. I sliced and dried a bunch in my dehydrator and that worked great. But, didn't use them on cereal.
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
Lee, never wash berries till you are about to use them. The water takes days off their lives.
The best way to save those berries now is to make a small batch of jam. Unlike blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, they don't freeze well.
It's so hard to resist them in the market, yet, if you don't have a plan for all of them within a couple of days, you could lose them.
I say have a big bowl of berries and sour cream and get it over with!
:applause:
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
You could make a pie, Lee! Nice excuse for a pie...and I like the look of those poblanos in the upper left corner. What are you going to do with them?
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Hmmmm. Oops.

Well, I HAVE washed the strawberries and would prefer to keep them fresh for cereal, so I put them in single layers in two separate colanders. No covers. We'll see.

Karen, I was thinking of slitting the poblanos, removing the seeds, then stuffing them with a blend of storebought shredded cheeses, and grilling them as side dish.

I LOVE poblanos and chile rellenos, but I hate making the latter!

Lee
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
Will you do a "pre-roast": and peel them? We've been served chiles rellenos here that have not been peeled, and they aren't very good...the peel is pretty tough. But we often get chiles rellenos (which simply means "stuffed chiles") that are not battered and fried in the way you're used to. We had some at a restaurant not long ago that were stuffed with shrimp and cheese and baked quickly. Oh yummmmmm.....
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
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I was hoping to avoid peeling them, Karen - it's a pain.

Plus, if I'm going to do them on the grill, peeled, pre-roasted poblanos might not hold up.

My plan doesn't sound good, huh?

Lee
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
Lee, if you have a Food Saver, I find that one of the vacuum canister containers for it makes any berries last 3 or 4 times longer than normal. just make sure to dry them well before storing.
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
QSis said:
My plan doesn't sound good, huh?

I've never tried it, so I don't know if it would work...might as well give it a try!

I use poblanos all the time, as a sub for those slimy diced chiles that come in cans. We have a group of doctors who come here from Mexico City four times a year to operate on local kids with cleft palates. Yesterday was my turn to make breakfast for the docs, and I made a chile-cheese oven frittata thing and used chopped poblanos. It looked really good, but I didn't take a picture!
 

GotGarlic

New member
You can also freeze them, whole or sliced, then buzz them up into smoothies or a topping for ice cream or pound cake.
 

Carolina Cooking

New member
You can also freeze them, whole or sliced, then buzz them up into smoothies or a topping for ice cream or pound cake.


I do this too. PPl say you cant freeze them. I freeze them all the time.

I will use the fresh ones in salads, like spinach salad. Or just for eating. Topping for cheesecakes etc. mixed fruit salads. i don't eat cereal anymore but when I did I mixed them in.

I use frozen for smoothies, drinks, ice cream, yogurt, low carb diet desserts. I even put them in cottage cheese & sweetened scrambled eggs. Mix them with rhubarb.

Strawberries are low on my list of carbs so I eat them.. :smile:
 

Adillo303

*****
Gold Site Supporter
When I do Poblanos, I put them on the burner of my gas stove fpr a few seconds and roll them around till the outside peels are blackened. The peels then come off very easily.

Although I have not tried it, i think the vacuum canister could work.

How about an experiment? Dry them well in paper towels, put some in a vacuum canister if possible, them wrap some in aluminum foil (Works great for celery, which wilts easily, and some in the colander. See which idea wins.
 

MexicoKaren

Joyfully Retired
Super Site Supporter
Adillo303 said:
When I do Poblanos, I put them on the burner of my gas stove fpr a few seconds and roll them around till the outside peels are blackened. The peels then come off very easily.

That's exactly how I do it, Andy. Works great.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Lee, if you have a Food Saver, I find that one of the vacuum canister containers for it makes any berries last 3 or 4 times longer than normal. just make sure to dry them well before storing.

Excellent idea, SS! I will try that!

Thanks!

Lee
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Good call on the Foodsaver cannisters, SS!

These are the very last of my BYGO strawberries, that I bought 2 weeks ago and (ignorantly) washed.

I kept a third in a tupperware container, to use right away, and vacuumed-seal each of the other two thirds in two cannisters, not crowding them. I stored the cannisters in the vegetable bins of my fridge.

Once I opened the seal on a cannister I did not keep re-sealing it, but just used 4 or 5 strawberries a day.

They were a little softer than they were when they were fresh, but were still good and delicous!

I will do this again, without washing first!

Thanks again for the tip!

Lee
 

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Jim_S

Resident Curmudgeon
Gold Site Supporter
Thanks for the update, I was wondering how they were doing.

Jim
 

Jim_S

Resident Curmudgeon
Gold Site Supporter
You need to get out more! :kiss:

Lee

That's why I was having strawberry trouble, I got out and visited the Farmer's Market!

I washed them and put them in the refrigerator. The last ones started growing white fuzz.

Jim
 
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