grocery store worker here. They do that at the store too :/
this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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this is untrue. strawberries get moldy at the store all the time, I both stocked them and culled them and picked them for customers and I can confirm that almost once a day I found moldy berries if not more than once a day
People really thinks the grocery store would just leave moldy strawberries out....
Strawberries grown at home are delicious. Shop bought ones taste of.disappointment.
Normally I would respond to the already posted top reply with this same message, but this is a topic which deserves multiple replies with the same answer to reinforce the idea that it is correct...
Remove any diseased or damaged strawberries from the container.
Soak the rest in a vinegar solution for a few minutes.
Rinse with fresh water.
Allow to completely dry.
Keep refrigerated.
Those are the steps. Works with lots of produce, but seems to be especially good for things like blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
But also, at least in the USA, shit's going down with our produce right now and it seems like the shelf life of almost everything as of late is super limited. Not sure if it's due to the tariffs or what.
Probably the FDA being gutted.
That one mushy moldy strawberry that snuck in: “Now to corrupt the entire batch! Muhahaha!””
I bet they’re doing this on purpose. Way too often have I had one single potato in an otherwise impeccable batch that sneakily ruins the whole sack. I now investigate them very thoroughly at the store.
You can also get a big plate and lay them all out with a bit of spacing. That way you will easily spot it when the mold starts and they wont all be affected as quickly.
Once they get eyes you can cut them into small pieces and let the cut heal then they are ready to plant
I planted a 8ftx4ft strawberry patch a couple years ago and I can safely say I give 90% of them to the chickens. I eat maybe 5 or 6 a day when I grab them, but there are so damn many that I just grab about 5 handfuls of not perfect looking ones and throw them to the hens and they love them. I don't get it. They never raid the patch, but the strawberries won't last a minute on the ground when I give the to them. I always just figured they'd eat the patch
It's not the strawberries they love. It's the fact that they've trained their bumbling ape to hand deliver the little red triangles directly to them.
Very true lol
Look at you with all those chicken
It made me giggle so hard watching the small flock of chickens in my parents' yard jumping to get the blueberries off the bushes.
One part white vinegar to four parts water. Maybe a little apple cider vinegar for flavor. But soak your fresh berries for like five minutes, then rinse in clean water, dry, then put back in the fridge. Not in the same container or the contamination goes right back on.
This! This is one of those old timey things you hear about and think is bs, but actually works. I don't even remove the berries from the packet because I am lazy.
I fill a tupperware with apple cider vinegar and water, measured with my heart, and dunk the berries in it, container and all and let sit while I unpack groceries. Then I give them a shake to remove as much vinegar water as I can and toss them in the fridge. I don't rinse them, no they don't taste like vinegar.
A couple years back strawberries were $1 a punnet here and I tested this - the ones dunked in vinegar lasted a week or more with no soft spots, the ones without lasted just a few days before developing soft spots.
So yeah. Dunk them shits in vinegar. It works!
Any other fruits that this works with or any tips for grapes?
I have successfully "rehydrated" store grapes to full plump by submerging them in ice cold acidulated water (little lemon juice) in the fridge for 2-5 days.
The lemon juice is for light crisp taste. Gapes can double in size! Too long of a soak and grapes will crack.
Remove. Dry. Place back into the product vented ziploc bag, or a bowl... and keep fresh in fridge.
I haven't tested it on grapes, but have on all sorts of berries. I imagine it would work well on grapes as well actually... I'm totally going to do that when grape season is here!
What does measured with your heart mean? That sounds like a pretty big Tupperware. Is it just a splash of vinegar or are you using like most of a bottle of vinegar?
Yeah, it was a jokey way of saying I don't get out a measuring cup anymore, but add enough vinegar that its around 1:4.
Measuring with your heart the same way you do with garlic, or vanilla. You know? Like you might have measured once but now you have enough experience and know that its forgiving enough to just yeet some in there.
It means about "yay much" vinegar to approximately "yay much" water.
Or roughly 1:4
I do this with everything including leafy veg via flooded salad spinner. If I have some made up I also use peracetic acid that I have for sanitizing my stainless stuff.
Buy strawberries only when you plan to eat them immediately.
It's OK because I already ate the strawberries 0.005 seconds after bringing them home.
Same goes for bananas 😅
Can confirm. I manage a produce department for a living and it blows my mind that we get 3-4 days in the wall cooler but 24 hours at home. Moisture control goes a long way.
Do people actually think that produce in stores sits there for a week? Most of it is gonna be restocked daily for bigger stores... like twice a week at worst.
Also, just taking your produce out of it's packaging immediately before storing in the fridge will help immensely with the moisture build up causing mold.
A lot of produce can be about a month old before it gets to the stores to be put on show, then it depends on the stock levels, if they have too much out in the cool room and the products not selling well, it can easily sit there for another 2 weeks.
The biggest lie in fresh produce is the word fresh, nothing fresh about store brought produce.
Locally in season stuff is so much better than the crap ship half way around the world in winter for exaclty thoae reasons.
Root vegetables are really the only thing that makes sense to have year round since they just have to be stored in dark, dry places and last for a long time.
The apples you buy in a grocery store are, on average, about 6 months old. This is because we basically figured out immortality for apples
So true!
Moisture and warmth are the answer. Mold loves moisture and warmth and you gifted it one or the other, at some point.
Also fridge at home gets less gas exchange than open air fridge at supermarket so the ethylene builds up and your fruits turbo-ripen to mush.
Don’t wash them until you’re ready to eat them, don’t get crappy strawberries, and you should be good