Fruits
Berries
Wash at the last second. Water on berries starts the mould clock immediately.
2 recipes on this site
Ingredient reference image: AI-generated. Recipe photography is my own.
In the kitchen
Under heat
They collapse fast — thin cell walls can't hold shape past a few minutes of simmering, which is why a compote takes minutes, not the hour a stew would.
Against air
Once cut or crushed, exposed flesh molds faster than the skin does; whole berries last days longer than a punnet already hulled.
In storage
Don't wash until you're using them, and keep them dry in a single layer if you can manage it — stacked and wet is how a punnet turns in a day.
At the shop
Check the bottom of the container, not the top. Mold and crushed fruit hide under the good-looking berries on display.
Which variety, for what
- Blueberries
- Hold their shape best under heat — the standard choice for baking.
- Raspberries
- Delicate and hollow-cored; they collapse fastest of the four and bruise if stacked.
- Strawberries
- The only one with seeds on the outside — hull just before using, not before storing.
- Blackberries
- Firmer than raspberries with a similar structure, and the most forgiving of the soft berries to transport.
