Are fresh whole strawberries being used again?

Happy 2B

Fri, May 04 2012, 12:43 pm

Star K website says how to clean them. So we use them if we wash each strawberry individually and follow their instructions. It's a lot of work but worth it cuz they are yummy!

Rubber Ducky

Fri, May 04 2012, 12:47 pm

Star-K said all along that American strawberries are OK to use, but they must be thoroughly washed in soapy water. They advise cutting off the tops, because that's the most likely spot for infestation.Here's a link to their instructions: Star-K strawberry page. Scroll down the linked page for videos on strawberry checking.

amother

Fri, May 04 2012, 12:58 pm

Happy 2B wrote:

Star K website says how to clean them. So we use them if we wash each strawberry individually and follow their instructions. It's a lot of work but worth it cuz they are yummy!

Thanks.

I just found this from Star K:

Fresh

Fill basin with water and mild soap or special veggie wash (such as Tsunami 100).
Note: When using soap, use only a food grade cleanser that meets all federal, state, and
local regulations. The water should have enough soap to make it feel slippery.

Soak strawberries while agitating the water.
Rinse strawberries under a stream of water.
It is preferable to cut off the top together with a small amount of the flesh.
Strawberries may now be used.

seeker

Fri, May 04 2012, 1:00 pm

I never stopped using them. You just have to check them and wash them thoroughly. I'd been following the OU guide, IIRC it's not much different than the star-K guide already linked, but that's the book I have on our shelf so it's what I use! Most of the time they've been clean and easy, earlier this year I had a few batches that were quite buggy (one was bad enough that I almost just gave up on it entirely, ew. But I was having a pregnancy craving moment so I sat and scrubbed and soaped and soaked every strawberry until it gleamed!) so I waited a while and now the ones in my supermarket seem to be clean again. It might depend where they come from. I check and wash them just in case but once you've seen the buggy ones, you can pretty much tell when they're good (there COULD always be just one bug, which is why I check and wash anyway, but overall feels much safer when it's a clean batch!)

seeker

Fri, May 04 2012, 1:07 pm

OU specifies to cut off the top before washing, which makes a lot of sense to me because how else are you supposed to get it clean under the leaves. Then after that the washing instructions are basically the same just with an alternative option of washing each one under a strong stream of water while scrubbing with a vegetable brush.

Chana Miriam S

Fri, May 04 2012, 2:31 pm

I never stopped using them. The major hashgacha organizations all had directions for using them at hashgacha level (which is higher than required in our homes) and in addition, Star k recently changed checking blueberries to simply making sure that they are all good. Any that are in bad condition, just don't eat, which I assume most of us would have done anyways.

washing strawberries without soaking them for a few minutes is not effective in getting the DIRT off!

seeker

Fri, May 04 2012, 3:25 pm

I find that washing under a strong stream with a brush is perfectly effective for both dirt and bugs. A year ago I would not have been able to vouch for this but due to my experience with the buggy batches a couple of months ago which I needed too desperately to toss, I learned the ropes. I felt more confident with that method of washing and scrubbing each individually than with the soak.

I'm surprised by that blueberry policy; I have seen beautiful, firm, fresh blueberries with tiny little buggies running around the inner edges of their crowns. Easy to spot if you're looking, nearly impossible if you're not.

Chana Miriam S

Fri, May 04 2012, 4:08 pm

I used to think that about the strawberries under a stream, until once, when I cleaned them individually and then dropped them into a bucket because one of my staff told me that they came cleaner that way. I could not believe how much dirt was left on my previously well cleaned strawberries.

in any case, maybe the dirt is different here.

just fyi, I work regularly under hashgacha and keep up with these things. if you keep in mind that the hashgacha organizations set guidelines for their OWN mashgichim, that takes into account regional and geographical variations.

seeker

Fri, May 04 2012, 4:11 pm

Star K is based in Baltimore. Are you trying to say that blueberries in Baltimore attract different kinds of bugs than blueberries in New York? Confused

Interesting about the soaking. Where I buy my strawberries usually, they are quite clean looking to begin with. The place where I got the buggy ones, they also had dirt.

chocolate moose

Fri, May 04 2012, 7:08 pm

seeker wrote:

Star K is based in Baltimore. Are you trying to say that blueberries in Baltimore attract different kinds of bugs than blueberries in New York? Confused

Couldn't they? In American we don't check rice or flour, but in Israel they do.

Rodent

Sat, May 05 2012, 8:02 am

But within one country fruits and vegetables are very often grown in one place and shipped to many. Baltimore and NY aren't that far apart really, the odds are that they source most fruits and vegetables from the same locales. It is very different to Israel vs US in terms of infestation differences.