How to Store Blueberries So They Last More Than a Week (Hint: Skip the Vinegar!)

I love berries, but I honestly rarely buy them anymore because of how quickly a carton goes bad if I don’t eat them right away. I always have big plans to make yogurt bowls in the mornings before work, which rarely come to fruition. Then when I finally have time to take out my fruit on the weekend, it’s already moldy and mushy.

If you’re buying your berries at the grocery store (which I definitely am), the packaging the fruit is sold in isn’t always the best for keeping it fresh. Executive Editor Lauren Miyashiro recently visited her local farmers market and saw a tip from a local farmer at Celio’s Farms on the best way to store berries. Here’s what you should be doing.

According to this berry farmer, you should store berries in an airtight container in the refrigerator, with paper towels layered on the top and bottom. They also say not to wash the berries until you are ready to eat them. 

We’ve tested seven different methods for storing blueberries in the fridge before, and our winner was a pretty similar method. The way we found to last the longest was to rinse the berries, dry them completely, and then store them in single layers between paper towels in an airtight container. 

The runner-up, which also kept the berries fresh for two weeks but had a slightly higher amount of spoilage, was soaking them in a vinegar, salt, and water bath, then rinsing, drying, and storing them in an airtight container. While this runner-up method also lasted a long time, the step of soaking them in this mixture is an extra step that doesn’t seem entirely necessary because just rinsing them achieved the same result for us.

We also tried storing the berries unrinsed in the original packaging with a produce sheet, and unrinsed and stored loosely in a single layer on paper towels — both lasted about two weeks. A few methods that almost made it to two weeks were soaking them in a vinegar bath, then storing them rinsed and dried in a breathable container, as well as unrinsed in original packaging with a paper towel underneath. 

I have to admit that I normally just store my berries completely untouched in their original packaging. We also tested this method, and the blueberries lasted for almost two weeks, but had the highest percentage of spoilage. 

Another pro tip when it comes to blueberry spoilage is to keep them out of the crisper, which we actually found to be true because we placed some blueberries in there as a control, and they had a much higher spoilage percentage. 

Next time I buy berries, I’ll be trying out the berry farmer’s method. And while I’m at it, I’ll definitely not be putting the container in the crisper.

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: To Make Berries Last More Than a Week, I Skip Vinegar and Store Them Like THIS Instead