4 Simple Methods for Cleaning Strawberries

When in season, fresh strawberries are the perfect blend of sweet with a little hint of tartness. They’re excellent for including in fruit smoothies, pairing with a savory breakfast like eggs and bacon, or dunking in chocolate for a sweet dessert. Whether you’re buying them from a grocery store or picking up a bunch from your local farmers market, strawberries should always be washed before eating. Thankfully, there are a number of ways to get these bright red fruits clean, and your favorite method might just come down to what you already have in your kitchen.

There’s a reason why fresh fruits and vegetables should always be washed before consumption. They contain potentially harmful bacteria and viruses, as well as dirt and other pesticides from when they were grown. If you ingest the fruit without cleaning it, you’re ingesting everything on that fruit’s surface. And if you think buying those strawberries pre-cut means they’re washed and safe, this isn’t always the case; pre-cut fruit and veggies have a contamination risk as well because the inside of that fruit is exposed to all kinds of germs while it’s being handled. Your best bet is to purchase whole fruits, wash them properly, and cut them yourself.

The easiest and most straightforward way to clean strawberries is to do a cold water rinse. For this method, you can either wash the strawberries one at a time in your hands, or rinse them thoroughly in a colander. Never rinse strawberries directly in the sink because the sink can harbor plenty of germs.

Rinsing the strawberries with only cold water is more effective than it seems. It helps to remove any dirt and wash away some germs on the surface. Rubbing the strawberries with your hands while rinsing them under the running water can also help remove the dirt and pesticides. Cold water alone has been shown to reduce the bacteria count on strawberries in the same way that some other antimicrobial methods do, such as using vinegar. The downside to the cold water rinse is that the water should be running, which means you’re using plenty more of it to clean the fruit as the process could take several minutes depending on how many strawberries you’re cleaning.

You might have heard rumors that this combination works, but should you really be cleaning produce with baking soda? The answer is yes. Baking soda seemingly has a bunch of unexpected uses; it can absorb odors, help tenderize meat, and even get those strawberries nice and clean. You can soak the strawberries in a baking soda bath, and if you’re washing many strawberries at once, this batch-cleaning method also helps limit how much running water you use.

In a bowl, combine 4 cups of water with 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Then, add the strawberries to the bowl, and let them soak in the solution for five minutes. To remove the baking soda, take the strawberries out of the bowl, transfer them to a colander, and rinse them under cold running water. They should only need about a 30-second rinse to remove the baking soda.

Another way to clean the berries without too much running water is to soak them in a salt water bath. For this method, add 1 tablespoon of kosher salt to a cup of water, and make sure the strawberries are fully submerged in this liquid. Let them sit in the salty water for five or so minutes, then rinse them with fresh water in a strainer or colander to remove the salt. 

This method works because salt’s texture is abrasive enough to clean the berries. Think of it as similar to a scrub brush that aides in rinsing more pesticides, dirt, and germs than just water alone can. Plus, the salt will easily wash off afterward, which could potentially make it a better alternative to baking soda. The latter can seep inside the strawberries, making it hard to rinse off the baking soda entirely. 

Another alternative to the salt water or baking soda bath is to wash the strawberries with vinegar. The ratio is a little bit higher for this wash, so you’ll need about ½ a cup of vinegar for every 1 cup of water you use. You can use a variety of vinegars for this; wine vinegar, cider vinegar, or distilled malt vinegar types will all work, and you likely already have at least one of those sitting in your pantry.

Add the strawberries to the vinegar mixture, then lightly move them around in the solution for a couple of minutes. From there, rinse them thoroughly with water to ensure all of the vinegar if fully removed. Vinegar has a strong acidic profile, so keep this in mind because it could potentially alter the sweet and tart flavor as well as juicy texture of the strawberries if exposed to this solution for too long. That said, you can deep-clean even raspberries and blackberries with water and vinegar, so this method works for other berries as well.

Cleaning strawberries is the most important part of enjoying this fruit, but they need to be properly dried and stored in order to last. If possible, don’t wash the strawberries until you’re ready to eat them. Avoiding that contact with moisture will keep them fresh for longer. But if you prefer to wash them in advance so you can treat them as a grab-and-go snack, the most important rule is to dry them completely.

Set the berries flat on a cutting board or baking sheet that’s topped with a layer of paper towels. Even an absorbent kitchen towel can work. Then, with more towels, gently press on all sides of each strawberry to make sure that all of the water is absorbed out of the fruit. Once they fully dry, line a container with paper towels, then place the strawberries in the container before storing them in the refrigerator. This should keep your strawberries fresh for a week.