this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024
31 points (97.0% liked)

food

22256 readers
18 users here now

Welcome to c/food!

The place for all kinds of food discussion: from photos of dishes you've made to recipes or even advice on how to eat healthier.

Animal liberation is essential to any leftist movement.

Image posts containing animal products must have nfsw tag and add a content warning (CW:Meat/Cheese/Egg) ,and try to post recipes easily adaptable for vegan.

Posts that contain animal products may receive informative comments regarding animal liberation, and users may disengage by telling a commenter that the original poster wants to, "disengage".

Off-topic, Toxic, inflammatory, aggressive debating, and meta (community rules, site rules, moderators,etc ) posts or comments will be removed.

Compiled state-by-state resource for homeless shelters, soup kitchens, food pantries, and food banks.

Food Not Bombs Recipes

The People's Cookbook

Bread recipes

Please be sure to read the Code of Conduct and remember we are all comrades here. Share all your delicious food secrets.

Ingredients of the week: Mushrooms,Cranberries, Brassica, Beetroot, Potatoes, Cabbage, Carrots, Nutritional Yeast, Miso, Buckwheat

Cuisine of the month:

Thai , Peruvian

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I always wash my fruit before I eat it when I buy it fresh. Recently I've been buying frozen bluberries and honestly I sort of like just eating them straight out of the bag (after letting them sit out for a little bit). But I'm wondering - should I be washing the berries before I eat them? If they were fresh I'd absolutely wash them but I'm unsure if this is necessary for frozen.

top 33 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] LibsEatPoop@hexbear.net 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Huh. I usually just put them straight in a blender for my smoothie. Never even considered I might have to wash, though I always wash fresh berries. Will have to research more.

[–] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Might be easier to blend them together and then just wash the smoothie

[–] Futterbinger@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

I just add a few drops of dish soap to my smoothie.

[–] LibsEatPoop@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Brilliant idea lmao def gonna try that agony-shivering

[–] iminsomuchpainv2@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago

lmao same oh god

[–] flan@hexbear.net 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Throw them in a cocktail and let the alcohol do the hard work for you.

[–] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Recipe: 30mL Absinthe, 1 singular blueberry

The working man's breakfast

[–] Beetle_O_Rourke@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

that's about 295mL short of a good morning.

[–] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Absinthe is generally bottled at 120-140 proof (60-70% ethanol).

[–] Barx@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I recommend washing all fruits and veggies before consumption. In theory frozen stuff should be relatively safe but I just don't trust companies to not be comically negligent.

You could always wash and freeze your own berries! Wash em and then freeze in a sealed bag using the straw trick to remove excess air.

[–] LibsEatPoop@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Frozen berries are way cheaper. It’s why I get them. But I guess I’ll try washing them and then putting in a freezer safe bag from now on.

[–] Barx@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's sounds silly to have to wash and refreeze frozen berries but it also just might be a good idea lol

[–] LibsEatPoop@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Isn’t there some warning on atleast some frozen products to not refreeze them? I wonder if there is on frozen berries…

So many problems.

[–] Barx@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So far as I know it's never dangerous to refreeze so long as you're not doing something like sticking a big pot of hot whatever in the freezer (a slow freeze might mean the center is warm long enough for bacteria to proliferare).

But it can damage texture. Many frozen foods are catefully flash frozen to prevent crystals from breaking up cell walls and so on. Refreezing yourself can form said crystals. So if you freeze, say, cut-up bell-pepper slowly in your freezer it will go floppy when you thaw.

You can do something close to flash freezing at home using a baking sheet. For berries, spread them out one layer thick and put in the freezer for 2 hours. Then you can transfer them to a bag. They'll store even better if you suck air out if the bag before sealing.

Most likely you can just wash, then dry, then freeze on a tray, then put back in a bag with no tricks.

[–] LibsEatPoop@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

…all this to avoid the slight chance of norovirus. Life is pain.

Thanks for the step by step guide, btw. Appreciate it.

[–] Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Depends. There have been outbreaks of norovirus traced back to frozen berries, so.....do you feel lucky?

[–] LaGG_3@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

Shake hands with ~~danger~~ diarrhea

[–] rootsbreadandmakka@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Would washing actually remove norovirus (or any other virus) if it was present?

[–] Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] rootsbreadandmakka@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

is norovirus that much bigger of a risk on frozen as it is on fresh. I can only find like one outbreak in the US in relatively recent years linked to frozen blueberries.

[–] Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm in Finland, there's been a few linked to foreign berries. All restaurants are advised to cook foreign berries before serving.

[–] rootsbreadandmakka@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

hmm ok. The berries say they're grown in the US and Canada so idk I think I'm relatively safe

[–] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

fuck it i eat the cold e coli

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I usually put them in a bowl and run them under cold water, but that's more to defrost them a little than any concern about sanitation.

[–] rootsbreadandmakka@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

hmm this is a good idea. do you eat them out of the bag or are you cooking them?

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

Out of the bag, I like when they're still partially frozen.

[–] Speaker@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

Tbh, I don't even wash fresh fruit, so you've got my seal of approval.

[–] LocalMaxima@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

My berries say:

to thaw place in bowl

Ready to serve

[–] D61@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Best you could do would be a rinse, not sure if trying to use soap would work. It might be difficult to rinse the soap off.

If you try to refreeze they are going to turn into a solid mass though.

[–] Panda 2 points 3 weeks ago

As far as I know they're ready to eat so I don't wash them. There are these bags with mixed frozen fruits, ready to be used in smoothies, as well. Nowhere on the packaging does it say to wash them first. Same with frozen vegetables.