The way to Retailer Blueberries So They Final Longer

At Severe Eats, we take the science of meals storage—watch for it—severely. I keep in mind studying Kenji’s tomato storage article again in 2017 and instantly flipping all my tomatoes over, chastising my then-boyfriend for considering I’d had a really unusual momentary lapse of produce storing judgment. Daniel’s bread refrigeration piece modifications lives repeatedly, per the suggestions in our SE workers e-mail inbox. And Genevieve’s deep-dive into the steps necessary to preserve strawberries stays a perennial prime performer for the location, even in months it is unnecessary to eat strawberries! 

So it stands to cause I’d take the official Severe Eats blueberry model of these experiments very—watch for it—severely! And I did! If I needed to find out the very best approach 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 collection of exams to find out the easiest way to retailer blueberries. I examined 18 completely different strategies, together with ones that supported present theories about the easiest way to retailer blueberries, in addition to people who immediately opposed agreed upon strategies. Along with difficult accepted strategies from the world outdoors 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 should 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 essentially the most salient issue resulting in blueberry demise (see: shriveled or burst fruit on account of moisture loss) is temperature. The upper the temperature, the extra accelerated the fruits’ metabolism. The upper the metabolic charge that happens, the likelier it’s that blueberries will lose moisture and start to interrupt down.

The Assessments

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 bundle and picked by way of them to take away any dangerous berries from the batch. Then I divided them into batches and proceeded with the exams outlined under.

• Unrinsed blueberries of their unique packaging at room temperature
• Rinsed blueberries of their unique packaging at room temperature
• Unrinsed blueberries of their unique packaging within the fridge
• Rinsed blueberries of their unique packaging within the fridge
• Unrinsed blueberries of their unique packaging within the crisper
• Rinsed blueberries of their unique 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 bathtub, then rinsed, then dried in a shallow bowl within the fridge
• Blueberries soaked in a vinegar bathtub, 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 sizzling (125°F) water, drained, dried delicately however utterly in a salad spinner triple-lined with paper towels, positioned again of their unique container, and saved on a shelf within the fridge.

The 2 exams I used to be most assured in have been the third and the final ones listed above. The third—unrinsed blueberries saved of their unique packaging within the fridge —most logically follows all present blueberry steering. The latter—rinsing in sizzling 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 sizzling water software (versus simply leaving the berries alone) is that you could keep off mould and lengthen their shelf lives.

The Outcomes

In my first batch of exams, 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. Actually, I might’ve fed them to my toddler up till about day 11. Conversely, my sizzling water-washed berries felt smooth practically instantly after their bathtub. 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 system 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? Perhaps!?). 

After my exams have been full, Genevieve and Daniel ran follow-up exams of my profitable storage technique—the unwashed, unique packaging one—towards the recent water technique. Genevieve had related outcomes to mine; Daniel, who was testing on lovely farmers market berries, discovered no distinction in batches throughout many days (he finally needed to lower his exams brief for PTO causes).

Genevieve, Daniel, and I’ve run theories about anthocyanins and water solubility forwards and backwards for weeks since then. Are these hyper-pigmented fruits a foul thought to clean since you’re actively ruining them within the course of? We all know the soundness of anthocyanins are also impacted by temperature. Is that why the recent water bluebs fared far more poorly than my room temp-rinsed ones, which, on common lasted about six days earlier than mould sightings!? Or possibly Daniel had a unique number of blueberry! Perhaps his have been simply brisker than mine and Genevieve’s! Perhaps if you’re not coping with freshest blueberry—even when it seems to be good!—you are coping with sufficient deterioration on a microscopic degree that the recent water rinse simply ruins all the pieces. 

I spoke to Professor Penelope Perkins-Veazie, who’s cited repeatedly within the first research linked above right here, by way of e-mail, and she or he famous: “Anthocyanins are typically thought to be 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, akin to storage life, I am fairly positive that there was no work to look particularly on the shelf life and quantity of anthocyanin in blueberry.”

Conclusions: The way to Retailer Blueberries So They Final Longer

All this to say: The best approach to make sure you’ll have brisker blueberries for longer is to get them into the fridge precisely as you acquire them as shortly as doable. (Value mentioning: My countertop blueberries went to hell in actually 4 hours on an East Coast morning in July.) However when you’re seeking to really feel higher about mould spores and don’t must maintain your blueberries round for the week, go forward and provides them a sizzling rinse and a radical dry. To recap, here is the only and greatest approach to retailer blueberries:

• Take away any moldy berries from unique 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, it is best to switch the berries to a clear, dry container after eradicating any moldy berries.)
• Rinse nicely proper earlier than consuming.