Freshly picked strawberries

[juliebove]

Now this is probably something I should know from biology class, but if we covered it, I don't remember.

I have never been much of a fruit eater, but I do like some berries straight from the vine/bush. I have a strawberry patch and the berries are really sweet and good if picked, washed then eaten straight away. But if I let them sit for an hour or so after picking, they're not very tasty at all. My mom said it had something to do with the sun warming them, but I just picked some and the sun is going down. The berries did not feel very warm to the touch and probably didn't get much sun because my strawberry patch was being overtaken by buttercups and sweet peas.

I wonder if other fruits are the same way? I've never really grown much in the way of fruit because I've always preferred vegetables.

[rawpriestess]

all produce if eaten when they are still alive, within 10 minutes of picking have such a fantastic flavor, it is truly unbelievable compared to store bought, which can have been picked 2 weeks prior, based upon pestisides, chemicals and gas sprays to keep them "fresh" NOT, but supposedly edible.

we pick our strawberries and eat them right then and there, or we dehydrate in fruit leather, or we freeze within about 10 to 15 minutes after picking, but we can tell a big difference from fresh picked to picked a few hours ago.

Your taste buds as soooo evolving to raw taste buds, how cool is that?

[exurb]

home grown and organically grown strawberries actually can grow molds quite quickly, because they are not doused in fungicides the way those bizarre conventional ones the stores have that don't go moldy after a month in your fridge.

It might help you a little to pinch or clip them off the vines with a longer stem/stalk, rather than just pulling the berry and getting the berry crown with a little hole at the top. Then put them in the fridge unwashed, and only wash them just before you're ready to use them. Also when washing, just rinse, don't soak in water as they rapidly absorb the water and that also dulls the flavor.

You're lucky to have a patch so if they taste best yanked right off the vine, that's probably the best answer right there to just keep doing that.

[juliebove]

I always leave the stem on. We grew strawberries when I was a kid but we only had a few plants and there were never enough berries to do anything with.

We usually went berry picking every summer at one of the U-pick farms. I can remember getting yelled at for eating berries as I was picking. I always seemed to like the ones I ate while I was picking, but recall not liking the ones we brought home. Especially after they were loaded up with sugar, which they seemed to need in order to taste sweet.