An Easy Way to Wash Berries

It never fails... You bring in that bucket/bowl of beautiful berries, ripe from the sun, gleaming and taunting you to dive right in and have a nice bowl of berries and cream. But wait! You can't. If you look just a little closer you will find the "trash" that clogs the bounty. It's just the way it is. It's inevitable that particles of straw or grass or even berry stems and bugs lurk within the depths of the pail. It's not the end of the world, however. We just need to clean them.

Over the years I have attempted to clean berries the hard way, by picking at the bids and running water through berries in a colander. There is always something that gets left behind and you are surely bound to find it at the worst possible time... like when company drops by for berries and cream. There is a simpler way to wash berries... so simple in fact that I am almost ashamed of posting it here for fear that I may insult your intelligence. But post I shall! Just follow me and it will be over quickly.



Fill a sink with cold water and dump the berries in.
Keep the water running just enough to over-flow the sink. f you have a double sink, the over-flow will flow into that sink.
With your hand, gently push the debris that rises to the surface toward the over-flow. See below:

Double sinks are usually designed to allow for over-flow without water running into the floor.

Continue this process, occasionally churning up the water with your hand from time to time, releasing any trapped materials that have hidden themselves under the berries. This is also a great way to separate squishy berries from the firm ones. Just let it all float on.
Soon your berries will look clean and perfect. See....

There is a squishy one on my pinky!

As the berries become clean remove them to a colander in the other sink. Let them drip as you begin finishing up.

The over-flow is so gentle that the water doesn't rise up to the colander .

There you have it... clean berries ready to eat or cook into some wonderful creation. This process works for any type of berry. See I told you is was incredibly simple

Let's get cookin'!

Traveling at the speed of Life.