Recommendations on how you can Retailer Blueberries So They Last Longer

At Crucial Eats, we take the science of meals storage—anticipate it—severely. I take into account learning Kenji’s tomato storage article once more in 2017 and immediately flipping all my tomatoes over, chastising my then-boyfriend for pondering I’d had a extremely uncommon momentary lapse of produce storing judgment. Daniel’s bread refrigeration piece changes lives repeatedly, per the solutions in our SE staff e mail inbox. And Genevieve’s deep-dive into the steps important to guard strawberries stays a perennial prime performer for the positioning, even in months it’s pointless to eat strawberries! 

So it stands to trigger I’d take the official Crucial Eats blueberry mannequin of those experiments very—anticipate it—severely! And I did! If I wanted to seek out out the absolute best approach to retailer blueberries for longevity, freshness, and style, I have to be meticulous. Like, now-husband-rightfully-thinking-I’d-lost-my-whole-mind-re: produce meticulous!!

After a deep-dive into current blueberry storage literature, a cross-reference of my inexperienced bean and cherry assessments from remaining yr, and a look into all mentions of produce storage on Crucial Eats, I acknowledged and prepare a set of assessments to seek out out top-of-the-line methods to retailer blueberries. I examined 18 fully completely different methods, along with ones that supported current theories about top-of-the-line methods to retailer blueberries, along with those that straight opposed agreed upon methods. Together with troublesome accepted methods from the world exterior of Crucial Eats, I moreover put berry storage methods from the Crucial Eats canon to the check out to see if what labored for, say, strawberries, moreover labored for blueberries. The! Outcomes! Will! Shock! You!

What We Know About Blueberries (and Blueberry Storage)

Blueberries are “true berries” in that they are fruits that come from the ovary of a single flower and have their seeds embedded inside their flesh. By this definition, strawberries and raspberries aren’t berries, nevertheless as an alternative are combination fruits, which come from numerous carpels of the an identical flower. Blueberries have thicker skins than these combination fruits, they normally have elevated ranges of anthocyanins—the water-soluble pigment answerable for the fruits’ coloration—than juuust about each different “berry” (elderberries and mulberries being the exceptions). 

A September 2014 Postharvest Biology and Experience analysis confirms that in all probability probably the most salient problem leading to blueberry demise (see: shriveled or burst fruit attributable to moisture loss) is temperature. The higher the temperature, the additional accelerated the fruits’ metabolism. The higher the metabolic worth that occurs, the likelier it is that blueberries will lose moisture and begin to interrupt down.

The Assessments

Considering the entire above, I strongly suspected {{that a}}  good chunk of the berries I examined, along with the blueberries left at room temperature, wouldn’t yield one of the best outcomes. 

I first eradicated the entire berries from the bundle and picked by the use of them to remove any harmful berries from the batch. Then I divided them into batches and proceeded with the assessments outlined beneath.

• Unrinsed blueberries of their genuine packaging at room temperature
• Rinsed blueberries of their genuine packaging at room temperature
• Unrinsed blueberries of their genuine packaging throughout the fridge
• Rinsed blueberries of their genuine packaging throughout the fridge
• Unrinsed blueberries of their genuine packaging throughout the crisper
• Rinsed blueberries of their genuine packaging throughout the crisper
• Unrinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl throughout the fridge
• Rinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl throughout the fridge
• Unrinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl throughout the crisper
• Rinsed blueberries in a shallow bowl throughout the crisper
• Blueberries soaked in a vinegar bathtub, then rinsed, then dried in a shallow bowl throughout the fridge
• Blueberries soaked in a vinegar bathtub, then rinsed, then dried in a shallow bowl throughout the crisper
• Unrinsed blueberries in an airtight container throughout the fridge
• Rinsed blueberries in an airtight container throughout the fridge
• Unrinsed blueberries in an airtight container throughout the crisper
• Unrinsed blueberries in an airtight container throughout the crisper (just for pleasant, really)
• Blueberries washed in scorching (125°F) water, drained, dried delicately nevertheless totally in a salad spinner triple-lined with paper towels, positioned once more of their genuine container, and saved on a shelf throughout the fridge.

The two assessments I was most assured in had been the third and the ultimate ones listed above. The third—unrinsed blueberries saved of their genuine packaging throughout the fridge —most logically follows all current blueberry guidance. The latter—rinsing in scorching water, drying fully, and storing throughout the fridge— is strictly Genevieve’s confirmed strawberry storage winner, because it’s Kenji’s sooner than her and Harold McGee’s sooner than him. The idea behind this scorching water software program (versus merely leaving the berries alone) is which you may hold off mildew and delay their shelf lives.

The Outcomes

In my first batch of assessments, the unwashed blueberries thrown throughout the fridge went a full 9 days sooner than I noticed any sign of decay or mildew. They’d barely misplaced weight at the moment too. Honestly, I would’ve fed them to my toddler up until about day 11. Conversely, my scorching water-washed berries felt mushy virtually immediately after their bathtub. I gave them until day 4 (and a ~16% drop in mass) sooner than giving up on them totally. It’s worth noting Kenji doesn’t specify this methodology is most acceptable for blueberries in his genuine produce-washing investigation. He examined it on blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries (all of which are combination fruits, I ought so as to add? Presumably!?). 

After my assessments had been full, Genevieve and Daniel ran follow-up assessments of my profitable storage approach—the unwashed, genuine packaging one—in direction of the brand new water approach. Genevieve had comparable outcomes to mine; Daniel, who was testing on beautiful farmers market berries, found no distinction in batches all through many days (he lastly wanted to decrease his assessments fast 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 nasty thought to wash because you’re actively ruining them throughout the course of? Everyone knows the soundness of anthocyanins are moreover impacted by temperature. Is that why the brand new water bluebs fared far more poorly than my room temp-rinsed ones, which, on frequent lasted about six days sooner than mildew sightings!? Or presumably Daniel had a definite variety of blueberry! Presumably his had been merely brisker than mine and Genevieve’s! Presumably everytime you’re not dealing with freshest blueberry—even when it seems to be like good!—you’re dealing with enough deterioration on a microscopic stage that the brand new water rinse merely ruins all of the issues. 

I spoke to Professor Penelope Perkins-Veazie, who’s cited repeatedly throughout the first analysis linked above proper right here, by the use of e mail, and she or he well-known: “Anthocyanins are usually considered extraordinarily water soluble (spherical 80%), nevertheless because of blueberries are pretty superior in anthocyanins and completely different flavonoids, I have no idea if the [two are related]. As far as longevity, just like storage life, I’m pretty constructive that there was no work to look notably on the shelf life and amount of anthocyanin in blueberry.”

Conclusions: Recommendations on how you can Retailer Blueberries So They Last Longer

All this to say: The best method to be sure to’ll have brisker blueberries for longer is to get them into the fridge exactly as you bought them as quickly as doable. (Worth mentioning: My countertop blueberries went to hell in really 4 hours on an East Coast morning in July.) Nonetheless within the occasion you’re making an attempt to essentially really feel greater about mildew spores and don’t have to carry your blueberries spherical for the week, go ahead and supplies them a scorching rinse and a radical dry. To recap, that is one of the best and most interesting approach to retailer blueberries:

• Take away any moldy berries from genuine packaging.
• Retailer remaining blueberries (in that exact same packaging) throughout the fridge. (In case your blueberries can be found in a cardboard carton and that carton turns into damp, it’s essential to swap the berries to a transparent, dry container after eradicating any moldy berries.)
• Rinse properly correct sooner than consuming.