The season of ripening berries "from the garden" is coming, among which strawberries are especially loved and in demand among the population. In this regard, the Office of Rospotrebnadzor for Buryatia recalls how to choose delicious strawberries.
What is the benefit of strawberries?
This berry is rightly recognized as one of the most delicious and fragrant, but its beneficial properties are usually unfairly deprived of attention. Strawberries contain a balanced combination of vitamins and minerals. Eating only five berries compensates for the daily need of the human body for vitamin C. There is more folic acid in strawberries than in grapes and raspberries.
Also, the berries contain a significant amount of iodine. In addition, strawberries can be considered as a complete source of fiber, sucrose and fructose. Moreover, it contains much more fructose than sucrose, therefore, strawberries are especially recommended for people suffering from diabetes, although in limited quantities. The calorie content of strawberries is also very low, and does not exceed 36 kcal. This is not enough to deposit the buildup of body fat, but it will be quite enough to replenish the body's energy.
An allergy to strawberries is an absolute contraindication for its use. Strawberries are also not recommended for people suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (peptic ulcer, gastritis) during an exacerbation of the disease. A complex of organic acids (oxalic, salicylic), upon contact with the gastric mucosa, increases its irritation, which can exacerbate gastritis, gastroduodenitis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer. If there is no exacerbation, then in small quantities (150-200 grams per day) you can eat strawberries.
Strawberries can negatively affect tooth enamel, aggravating the course of caries.
Eating berries on an empty stomach can have an irritating effect on the stomach, it is better to eat them as a dessert, after the main meal. However, if you mix strawberries with yogurt, cream or sour cream, the severity of the negative effect will decrease.
Ripe and tasty fruits can be defined as follows:
- Berries dry, without signs of decay
- The color is uniform, saturated.
- The leaves of the "calyx" framing the berry are green, with no signs of wilting.
- The surface of the berries is elastic, shiny, smooth, without dents and damage.
- The smell is rich, berry.
Signs of low-quality berries:
- The berries are moist, there are spots on the surface.
- There is no fragrance.
- Soft berries (they will spoil quickly, perhaps the rotting process has already begun).
- The leaves of the "calyx" are dry, yellowed, or absent (such berries were collected a long time ago, or incorrectly).
- The color is not uniform, there are greenish spots, the tip of the berries is white (signs of incomplete maturity).
ADVICE!
Strawberries have a short shelf life and are delicate and perishable. Buy only as much as you are willing to eat over the next few days. If you want to keep strawberries longer, freeze them in an airtight bag or freezer container.
How to properly wash strawberries
- Berries should be washed immediately before use; if you do not plan to eat them on the day of purchase, put them in the refrigerator without first washing them. The shelf life of washed strawberries is significantly reduced.
- Before washing the berries, do not remove the green leaves, calyx and stem.
- Empty the strawberries into a large, clean colander. No need to soak it in water - as a result, the berry will lose its taste and aroma, and will deteriorate faster.
- Rinse the berries under clean running water.
- Wait a minute for the water to drain.
- Gently pat washed berries dry with paper towels to remove excess moisture.
- You can wash the berries using a weak vinegar solution (add a little grape or apple cider vinegar to the water (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water). Place the berries in a container with a solution for 3-5 minutes, then rinse thoroughly under running water. This method of processing berries prevents spoilage and increases their shelf life in the refrigerator.
The short strawberry season can be extended by harvesting the berries for future use. The best way to preserve the nutritional and taste qualities is to freeze the berries in small portions (150-200 grams each), because. Strawberries cannot be re-frozen. But during heat treatment, in the manufacture of jam, jam, the taste of berries changes significantly, most of the vitamins are lost.
When we bring fruits from the store, we wash them thoroughly before eating them without even thinking. And what to do with berries collected in the forest or in the garden?
Beautiful ripe tomatoes, apples or pears untouched by a wormhole, fragrant strawberries and cherries just ask for a basket in the market. But do not rush to put even a single berry in your mouth. Be patient until you bring fruits and berries home, where they can be properly washed. Experts say that it is not only microbes on the surface of these gifts of nature that need to be feared. Almost all fruits and berries are treated with chemicals for better preservation and giving them a marketable appearance. Especially those that are sold in winter or imported from distant lands.
With fruits and berries bought in a store or on the market, you can get a considerable dose of chemicals: diphenyl - a preservative that protects fruits and berries from decay; bromo-methyl, protecting against pests; sulfur dioxide, with which fruits, berries and vegetables acquire a beautiful color; insecticides and fungicides that protect against fungus and mold; paraffin, which is used to give berries and fruits shine. Doctors say that these chemicals are allergens and can even cause poisoning.
HOW TO WASH CORRECTLY?
Experts advise washing purchased fruits and berries under a plentiful stream of running water. After thorough washing, it is necessary to rinse with hot water - this will definitely not hurt fruits and berries.
What to do with fruits with inedible skins? Before peeling an orange, lemon, grapefruit, melon, watermelon, banana, experts also advise washing them. Before these fruits reached our stalls, many hands touched them. Take a clean sponge and wash the vegetables. Some adherents of cleanliness even use baby soap. However, hygienist Biruta Zdanevičienė does not recommend using soap or dishwashing liquid for washing. According to her, fruits, such as grapes, can be briefly immersed in a light soda solution, and then rinsed with running water.
Berries growing in clusters (grapes, currants) must be separated from the twigs before washing; it is also recommended to remove cuttings and leaves from cherries, strawberries and raspberries, because. dirt can accumulate underneath. Put the berries cleaned in this way in a colander and wash under running water for about a minute.
But what if there is no clean running water nearby? It is impossible to wash fruits and berries in ponds, so it is better to completely abandon their use. And fruits can be simply peeled.
Some housewives like to use citrus zest to prepare various confectionery products. So, experts do not recommend eating zest if the orange or lemon has not been previously washed with a brush or sponge.
DRIED FRUITS
Do you wash dried fruit before making sweet soup, for example? And what do you do with prunes, which are going to decorate the cake? Maybe you just like to feast on dried cherries, raisins, dates, figs, without even bothering to wash them before that?
Experts say that dried fruits must be washed. All types of dried fruits in our shopping centers are treated with chemicals. When drying fruits, sulfur is most often used to extend their shelf life. It is sulfur dioxide that helps preserve the color and presentation of dried fruits. Therefore, they must first be soaked in warm water, and then poured over with boiling water.
Today we will learn how to properly wash vegetables and fruits. Each hostess will say that there is nothing complicated here, that everyone knows how to do it. But in practice, it turns out that most do it wrong.
Everything would be fine if it weren't so dangerous these days. Often, vegetables and fruits are specially processed with chemicals, by eating which, you can easily “get” the shipment, and besides this, the products can be infected with various bacteria, the most dangerous of which is E. coli, from which you can even die.
How to wash cucumbers and tomatoes?
When the epidemic infection of people with enterohemorrhagic E. coli began, cucumbers and tomatoes were blamed for everything. Therefore, you need to know how to properly process them before use. First, cucumbers and tomatoes must be washed off the ground in running water, and then you need to rub the vegetables with a special brush for 2-3 minutes - this will remove the remaining dirt and wash off harmful bacteria.
How to properly turbidize tuberous vegetables?
Potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, radishes, horseradish are root crops, that is, fruits grown in the ground. It is not enough just to rinse them under running water. On their surface (for example, on carrots) there are a lot of dimples and depressions in which earth and dirt remain, and therefore microbes and bacteria too.
Therefore, in order to completely clean the root crops from the ground, you need to fill them with warm water and let them stand for a while so that the dirt gets wet, falls behind the fruit and settles at the bottom of the container. After that, they wash off what is left with a brush and wash the vegetables with warm and then cold water.
How to wash mushrooms?
Mushrooms are unlikely to have E. coli, but still, there is such a possibility if, for example, the mushrooms lay next to other infected vegetables.
I advise every housewife to get a special brush, which is designed for washing dishes. It is very convenient for her to wash imported vegetables and fruits from a wax or paraffin layer, which is specially applied to the fruits so that they do not deteriorate for a long time and have a marketable appearance.
Often imported vegetables and fruits are treated with a substance called diphenyl. In large quantities, this substance can cause allergies, vomiting, nausea, irritation of the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory tract, and leads to various skin diseases. Therefore, such vegetables and fruits must be handled especially carefully. Ordinary water will not be able to wash off the chemicals from the products, so you need to make soapy water with laundry soap, dip the vegetables into it and rub them with a brush for about 3 minutes. So you remove a layer of paraffin or wax, and also clean vegetables and fruits from E. coli.
How to wash citrus fruits?
All citrus fruits must be scalded with boiling water, and then rinsed under running water.
How to wash strawberries and strawberries?
How to wash greens?
Unwashed greens are dangerous because they can contain nematodes - helminths, which cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract in animals and humans, as a result of which diarrhea and allergies may occur. Nematodes can provoke laryngitis, bronchitis, lead to pneumonia. They affect the central nervous system, affecting it, leading to joint and muscle pain. But E. coli can be on the green too.
So, today we learned how to properly wash vegetables and fruits. Remember that only those fruits that are carefully peeled are useful! Be healthy!
How to properly care for makeup brushes?
How to paint lips
Low-calorie recipes: Soup with oyster mushrooms and buckwheat
How to sunbathe?
Low Calorie Recipes: Rustic Caviar
To freeze strawberries correctly, and when defrosting you get whole bright beautiful tasty berries, and not cloudy jelly with an unattractive color and taste, follow the following recommendations.
It is worth noting that if you have a freezer, keeping a fragrant and healthy piece of summer until the very cold is not a problem.
We will tell you how to freeze strawberries in several ways so that you can enjoy this wonderful spring berry on cold winter days. Having thawed strawberries, you can use it in its pure form or use it in cooking when baking, in compotes and cocktails.
How to freeze strawberries - the choice of berries
For freezing strawberries and their long-term storage, it is important to choose the right berry. Strawberries should be moderately ripe, not overripe, firm and dense, not watery and dry.
To harvest berries for the winter, it is advised to pick strawberries in dry and hot weather so that there is no rain for a couple of days before picking, then it will be tastier.
It is best to choose small strawberries - they freeze better.
How to freeze strawberries - preparing berries and dishes
For freezing berries, it is best to use plastic dishes and even plastic bags, but be careful - they can tear in the cold. Dishes must be clean, free of foreign odors and dry.
There is a controversial opinion about whether strawberries should be washed before freezing. It is believed that washed berries lose their taste. If you are sure of the purity of the selected berries, you can use unwashed strawberries.
We believe that the berries need to be washed, because this is an elementary matter of hygiene. The main thing is to do it quickly so that the strawberries do not have time to absorb water. Rinse strawberries in small portions in plenty of water. And try to do it carefully so as not to damage the delicate and capricious berries.
How to freeze strawberries for the winter
So, it is desirable to place thoroughly and quickly washed strawberries in a plastic sieve, because. in contact with metal, the berries may darken. Let the water drain and remove the stalks.
Spread the strawberries in a single layer on a paper towel so that the berries do not touch each other, for about 1 hour, so that it dries well. Now you can work with strawberries further.
How to freeze strawberries - method number 1
Wrap a wide plate or cutting board with a plastic bag, spread the strawberries in a single layer on a plane and place in the freezer for a couple of hours so that the strawberries “grab”.
Then take the strawberries out of the freezer, remove the package along with the berries from the plate, and the strawberries will be already packed in the bag. Place these bags in the freezer for long-term storage. It is convenient that the packages are portioned, and the berries in them do not stick together.
How to freeze strawberries - method number 2
For 1 kg of strawberries you will need 200 g of powdered sugar (or fine sugar).
Strawberries lose some of their sweetness when frozen. To make the berries sweet and tasty when defrosted, it can be frozen with sugar.
Spread clean and dried strawberries on a plane wrapped in cling film and send for 1-2 hours in the freezer.
Then remove the berries from the film and place in containers, pouring layers of powdered sugar. Place the containers in the freezer, where frozen strawberries will be stored for a whole year.
How to freeze strawberries - method number 3
Another way to freeze strawberries is to keep them grated in the freezer.
To do this, bring the prepared clean and dry strawberries with a blender to a puree state. Pour into a plastic container and place in the freezer.
You can immediately cover strawberries with sugar at the rate of 300 g per 1 kg of berries, or you can add it in winter after defrosting strawberry puree.
Enjoy your meal!
Strawberries are a very healthy berry, which contains a huge amount of vitamins and minerals. But due to the fact that the structure of the berry is very porous and soft, harmful bacteria multiply on the surface of the strawberry. The situation is also aggravated by the proximity of ripe berries to the ground. Given all these factors, eating unwashed strawberries is extremely dangerous. Therefore, the question of how to properly wash strawberries must be approached very seriously in order to avoid unpleasant consequences.
Strawberries, bought or picked with your own hands, must be put in a deep plate and poured with cold water. If water is poured from the tap, then you need to make sure that the jet is not very strong, since with strong pressure the berries can be wrinkled. It is recommended to leave strawberries for 10 minutes in water. This will allow the dirt that is present on the surface of the berry to move away and settle to the bottom of the dish. By the way, it is better to wash the berries with the stalks, but if you tear them off, then the berries during their stay in the water can “turn sour” and become not tasty. After the strawberries have floated in the water, they must be pulled out and laid out on a cotton towel to allow the berries to dry. This is only one, the easiest way to wash strawberries, but there are other options that, in the opinion of many housewives, are more effective.
Now there should be no problems with how to wash strawberries, since the article reflects the most popular and effective ways to clean berries, which are used by millions of housewives. The main thing is not to be lazy and follow all the recommendations. Only then will the summer strawberry season bring only joy, without poisoning and abdominal pain.
Loading...