At Severe Eats, we take the science of meals storage—await it—critically. I bear in mind studying Kenji’s tomato storage article again in 2017 and instantly flipping all my tomatoes over, chastising my then-boyfriend for pondering I’d had a really unusual momentary lapse of produce storing judgment. Daniel’s bread refrigeration piece adjustments lives often, per the suggestions in our SE workers electronic mail inbox. And Genevieve’s deep-dive into the steps necessary to preserve strawberries stays a perennial prime performer for the positioning, even in months it is mindless to eat strawberries!
So it stands to purpose I’d take the official Severe Eats blueberry model of these experiments very—await it—critically! And I did! If I needed to find out the very best method to retailer blueberries for longevity, freshness, and taste, I must be meticulous. Like, now-husband-rightfully-thinking-I’d-lost-my-whole-mind-re: produce meticulous!!
After a deep-dive into present blueberry storage literature, a cross-reference of my green bean and cherry tests from final 12 months, and a glance into all mentions of produce storage on Severe Eats, I recognized and arrange a sequence of checks to find out one of the best ways to retailer blueberries. I examined 18 completely different strategies, together with ones that supported present theories about one of the best ways to retailer blueberries, in addition to people who straight opposed agreed upon strategies. Along with difficult accepted strategies from the world exterior of Severe Eats, I additionally put berry storage strategies from the Severe Eats canon to the check to see if what labored for, say, strawberries, additionally labored for blueberries. The! Outcomes! Will! Shock! You!
What We Know About Blueberries (and Blueberry Storage)
Blueberries are “true berries” in that they’re fruits that come from the ovary of a single flower and have their seeds embedded inside their flesh. By this definition, strawberries and raspberries are usually not berries, however as an alternative are mixture fruits, which come from a number of carpels of the identical flower. Blueberries have thicker skins than these mixture fruits, they usually have greater ranges of anthocyanins—the water-soluble pigment chargeable for the fruits’ shade—than juuust about some other “berry” (elderberries and mulberries being the exceptions).
A September 2014 Postharvest Biology and Technology study confirms that probably the most salient issue resulting in blueberry demise (see: shriveled or burst fruit as a consequence of moisture loss) is temperature. The upper the temperature, the extra accelerated the fruits’ metabolism. The upper the metabolic fee that happens, the likelier it’s that blueberries will lose moisture and start to interrupt down.
The Exams
Contemplating all of the above, I strongly suspected {that a} good chunk of the berries I examined, together with the blueberries left at room temperature, wouldn’t yield the best outcomes.
I first eliminated all of the berries from the package deal and picked via them to take away any unhealthy berries from the batch. Then I divided them into batches and proceeded with the checks outlined beneath.
Severe Eats / Tess Koman
- Unrinsed blueberries of their authentic packaging at room temperature
- Rinsed blueberries of their authentic packaging at room temperature
- Unrinsed blueberries of their authentic packaging within the fridge
- Rinsed blueberries of their authentic packaging within the fridge
- Unrinsed blueberries of their authentic packaging within the crisper
- Rinsed blueberries of their authentic packaging within the crisper
- Unrinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl within the fridge
- Rinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl within the fridge
- Unrinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl within the crisper
- Rinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl within the crisper
- Blueberries soaked in a vinegar tub, then rinsed, then dried in a shallow bowl within the fridge
- Blueberries soaked in a vinegar tub, then rinsed, then dried in a shallow bowl within the crisper
- Unrinsed blueberries in an hermetic container within the fridge
- Rinsed blueberries in an hermetic container within the fridge
- Unrinsed blueberries in an hermetic container within the crisper
- Unrinsed blueberries in an hermetic container within the crisper (only for enjoyable, actually)
- Blueberries washed in scorching (125°F) water, drained, dried delicately however utterly in a salad spinner triple-lined with paper towels, positioned again of their authentic container, and saved on a shelf within the fridge.
The 2 checks I used to be most assured in had been the third and the final ones listed above. The third—unrinsed blueberries saved of their authentic packaging within the fridge —most logically follows all present blueberry steering. The latter—rinsing in scorching water, drying completely, and storing within the fridge— is strictly Genevieve’s proven strawberry storage winner, as it’s Kenji’s before her and Harold McGee’s earlier than him. The thought behind this scorching water utility (versus simply leaving the berries alone) is that you could thrust back mould and lengthen their shelf lives.
Severe Eats / Tess Koman
The Outcomes
In my first batch of checks, the unwashed blueberries thrown within the fridge went a full 9 days earlier than I observed any signal of decay or mould. They’d barely misplaced weight at that time too. Truthfully, I might’ve fed them to my toddler up till about day 11. Conversely, my scorching water-washed berries felt gentle practically instantly after their tub. I gave them till day 4 (and a ~16% drop in mass) earlier than giving up on them utterly. It’s value noting Kenji doesn’t specify this method is most acceptable for blueberries in his original produce-washing investigation. He examined it on blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries (all of that are mixture fruits, I ought to add? Possibly!?).
After my checks had been full, Genevieve and Daniel ran follow-up checks of my profitable storage methodology—the unwashed, authentic packaging one—towards the new water methodology. Genevieve had comparable outcomes to mine; Daniel, who was testing on lovely farmers market berries, discovered no distinction in batches throughout many days (he finally needed to reduce his checks brief for PTO causes).
Genevieve, Daniel, and I’ve run theories about anthocyanins and water solubility backwards and forwards for weeks since then. Are these hyper-pigmented fruits a foul concept to clean since you’re actively ruining them within the course of? We all know the steadiness of anthocyanins are also impacted by temperature. Is that why the new water bluebs fared way more poorly than my room temp-rinsed ones, which, on common lasted about six days earlier than mould sightings!? Or possibly Daniel had a special number of blueberry! Possibly his had been simply brisker than mine and Genevieve’s! Possibly whenever you’re not coping with freshest blueberry—even when it appears to be like good!—you are coping with sufficient deterioration on a microscopic degree that the new water rinse simply ruins every thing.
I spoke to Professor Penelope Perkins-Veazie, who’s cited repeatedly within the first research linked above right here, by way of electronic mail, and he or she famous: “Anthocyanins are typically considered extremely water soluble (round 80%), however as a result of blueberries are fairly complicated in anthocyanins and different flavonoids, I do not know if the [two are related]. So far as longevity, resembling storage life, I am fairly certain that there was no work to look particularly on the shelf life and quantity of anthocyanin in blueberry.”
Severe Eats / Tess Koman
Conclusions: The way to Retailer Blueberries So They Final Longer
All this to say: The best method to make sure you’ll have brisker blueberries for longer is to get them into the fridge precisely as you purchased them as shortly as doable. (Price mentioning: My countertop blueberries went to hell in actually 4 hours on an East Coast morning in July.) However in case you’re trying to really feel higher about mould spores and don’t must preserve your blueberries round for the week, go forward and provides them a scorching rinse and an intensive dry. To recap, here is the best and greatest method to retailer blueberries:
- Take away any moldy berries from authentic packaging.
- Retailer remaining blueberries (in that very same packaging) within the fridge. (In case your blueberries are available a cardboard carton and that carton turns into damp, you need to switch the berries to a clear, dry container after eradicating any moldy berries.)
- Rinse effectively proper earlier than consuming.
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