Strawberries from your own garden quickly lose their unique aroma if they are exposed to a hard jet of water. Of course, you still want to clean the fruit. With our tips you can do it thoroughly and gently.
How should you wash strawberries properly?
To properly wash strawberries, fill a bowl with water, wash the fruit gently with your hands, place in a colander to drain, and then remove the sepals. This way the aroma is retained and the pulp is not watered down.
Sensible order: Wash first - then clean
Skilled hobby gardeners never clean freshly harvested strawberries under running water. If it continually splashes down on the fruit, much of the aroma is washed away. In addition, the sepals initially remain in place so that the water does not seep into the pulp and dilute the taste. How to clean your strawberries professionally:
- fill a bowl with water
- wash the strawberries carefully with your hands
- place in a colander and let drain
- alternatively pat dry with kitchen paper
- then cut or twist out the sepals
With larger quantities of strawberries, removing the sepals takes a considerable amount of time. In this case, investing in a strawberry de-stemmer is definitely worth considering. The handy device has three small grippers with which the green leaves are cleaned out.
Clean and process without delay
After harvesting, strawberries are only washed and cleaned if they are to be consumed or preserved immediately afterwards. This circumstance applies to all variants of processing. Regardless of whether you want to freeze, pickle or cook strawberries; Do not clean the fruit until all the working materials are ready.
Tips & Tricks
If the fresh strawberries are intended to be eaten on the same day, experienced gourmets do not put the fruit in the refrigerator. Instead, they are stored in a colander, ideally hanging from the ceiling. This is not only beautiful to look at, but the strawberries surrounded by air develop an optimal aroma at room temperature.