Strawberry berries - garden or forest - have a soft consistency and let juice at the slightest load. In order to safely deliver the berries to their intended destination, gardeners strictly follow the rules for their collection, transportation and storage.
When to pick strawberries?
The harvest time for garden strawberries depends on the variety, local climate and weather conditions. Most often, the first berries appear in mid-June, in the south - at the end of May, in the north - in July. They are collected as soon as they turn red.
Fans of wild strawberries should also not hesitate - there are enough people in the forest who want to eat sweet berries. They are eaten by birds and animals. In the summer heat, strawberries rapidly deteriorate - they soften and rot, so delay is unacceptable.
Ripe berries are considered to be completely reddened. If the fruit has a green tip, it is not yet ripe. If the berries are soft, it means that they are overripe. These are not suitable for transportation and storage.
What to collect?
Garden strawberries are much softer than strawberries. It is important to be careful when collecting it. To prevent the berries from crushing and not letting in the juice, it is recommended to collect garden and forest strawberries in plastic bowls of low height.
For picking berries, it is better to use transparent bowls with ventilation holes - they allow you to control the condition of the berries. If there are too many fruits, drops of juice will appear from below - this is a signal that the container is extremely full.
Strawberries are easily crumpled, so high containers with hard walls are contraindicated for them. Not suitable for picking berries:
- aluminum and galvanized buckets;
- metal cans;
- glass jars.
When picking strawberries, it is convenient to use the classic container for picking berries, known to people for centuries. These are wicker baskets - berries do not choke or spoil in them due to natural ventilation.
Suitable containers for collecting and transporting strawberries are plastic containers for baking. Before picking the berries, 20-30 holes are made in them.
If you are going into the forest for strawberries, bring some bowls / containers with you. So the chances that you will bring whole and beautiful berries are much higher.
How to pick strawberries?
The main condition for the correct collection of strawberries is picking berries together with green cups. Such a collection takes time and painstaking work. It is used if the berries are to be transported.
Tips for picking strawberries:
- Tear strawberries collected for food or for jam in small "bouquets", several pieces at a time. This method of collection can significantly speed up the process. When picking berries, try not to make efforts so as not to pull out the strawberry bush - this happens especially often on loose soils.
- Pick berries only in dry weather, morning or evening.
- If you do not want to sort the berries later, sort them immediately during collection. Place the fruits in different containers: in one - large, in the other - small or defective. Compost rotten and overripe fruits.
- Put the berries in containers in no more than two or three layers.
- Clean the berries from debris and sand not with your hands, but with a soft brush so as not to damage them.
- If you find it raining while picking berries (this often happens in the forest), then spread the strawberries in a cool room to dry. When the fruits are dry, put them in containers.
Some especially neat gardeners use scissors when picking berries. They carefully cut off the tail (long or at the very cup, as it is more convenient for anyone). Such berries do not crumple for a long time and do not let juice, the tails simplify the bulkhead.
Strawberries are harvested mainly by hand, including when grown on a large scale. If the berries are processed, for example, for jam, it is convenient to use special devices for collecting - berry pickers or fruit pickers.
How to keep the harvest?
Strawberries are a perishable berry. If the storage rules are violated, it quickly loses its marketability. To extend the shelf life of the berries, do not wash the strawberries in advance. This is done immediately before use or when sent to freeze.
How to store strawberries:
- Discard all low-quality berries - rotten, moldy, softened. Dozens of neighboring fruits can deteriorate due to one bad berry in the container.
- For transportation use wooden containers - the berries "breathe" better in them. In plastic containers, strawberries spoil faster. Store berries in containers with ventilation holes for no more than 2 days.
- To preserve the strawberries for a week, fold them in a container lined with a paper towel. Store berries at 0 ... + 2 ° C. The higher it is, the shorter the shelf life.
- To keep the strawberries fresh in the refrigerator for two weeks, soak them in the vinegar solution for 5 minutes. To make it, mix a quarter cup of vinegar with 1.5 cups of water. After holding the berries in vinegar, rinse them, dry them and place them in a container lined with a paper towel.
- For long-term storage, use freezer. After thawing, strawberries are suitable for baking, making stewed fruit, smoothies, and other delicacies.
- If you want to dry the strawberries, cut them into equal sized wedges to dry evenly. Spread the berries evenly over the baking sheet and place in the dehydrator. Set the temperature to +135 ° C and dry the berries for 8 hours.
Collecting strawberries only at first glance seems to be a simple matter. The process requires not only time and effort, but also compliance with certain rules. The quality of berries and the safety of the crop depend on this.
Author of the publication
12
Russia. City Novosibirsk
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