We Tried 7 Different Methods for Storing Raspberries, and Two Outlasted Them All
Is it just me, or do raspberries seem like the most perishable produce ever? When I’m meal planning for a busy week, I’ll shop on Sunday with the expectation that the food I buy will last until Friday. Because raspberries’ window of freshness is so short-lived, I’ll try to use those up within the first two or three days. Even then, I’ll still find them dotted with mold, slimy-squishy, sort of disintegrated, or all of the above. It’s a double hit when this happens, as raspberries aren’t the cheapest (I literally mourn the financial loss and regret that I won’t get to enjoy the sweet, tart flavor and intoxicating fragrance of these berries).
Because raspberries are one of my family’s all-time favorite fruits, I set out to test seven different storage methods to make them last for longer in my fridge. I’m excited to say that two methods worked better than I expected. Read on to discover which ones came out on top.
What’s the Best Way to Store Raspberries?
I had a two-way tie for methods that kept the berries in the best condition for the longest time. Storing in an airtight container and in a berry keeper both kept the berries in pristine condition for nearly two weeks!
A Few Notes on Methodology
- The raspberries: I went to a few different stores to find the best raspberries I could find. I used this clever trick, plus gauged by eye to find the freshest fruit. After some disappointing offerings at a couple of grocery stores, I hit paydirt at Costco. I bought all of the raspberries there from the same crate/same shipment. When I got home, I sorted through all of the berries, picking out any that showed signs of decay (there were almost none). With each method, I tested a standard 6-ounce package.
- The storage space: I stored all of the fruit in the refrigerator. I cleared out an entire shelf in the middle of the fridge, plus a spot in the crisper drawer. The temperature inside my fridge (confirmed on a thermometer) was 38°F.
- The testing: I stored the raspberries for as long as I could for each method. I checked on them every day, and I pulled the fruit (stopped the testing) at the point that it had declined enough to where I wouldn’t eat it, either because it had developed mold or become squishy. Most of the fruit was rinsed or washed in a specific way, which I noted in each method’s description. For any rinsed or washed fruit, I dried the berries in a salad spinner before storing.
- Ratings: I judged each method on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 reserved for perfection. The main factor that I considered was longevity of freshness. To determine freshness, I did a visual inspection (checking for mold) and took account of the texture of the fruit.
Raspberry Storage Method: In the Crisper Drawer in their Original Container
Stayed fresh for: 3 days
Rating: 3/10
About this method: For this method, I simply kept the berries in their own original container, left them unwashed, and stashed them in the produce drawer.
Results: I know I’ve done this countless times in the past, refusing to take a few minutes to prep the fruit before storing it. And that’s likely why it has gone bad. The berries stored this way were the first to decline. At day 3, several berries displayed mold on their exteriors and inside their hollow interiors. Lots of them were mushy and slimy as well.
Raspberry Storage Method: In a Colander
Stayed fresh for: 4 days
Rating: 4/10
About this method: I rinsed the berries in a colander and dried them thoroughly in my salad spinner. I then returned them to the colander (which I had dried with a kitchen towel) and placed the colander on a shelf in my fridge.
Results: After just a few days, most of the berries were squishy and spongy. Many of them looked as if they’d been mashed with a fork. They were the most exposed berries of the bunch — not covered or partially covered in any way — and this no doubt sped up their spoilage.
Raspberry Storage Method: Hot Water Bath
Stayed fresh for: 6 days
Rating: 5/10
About this method: With this technique, I soaked the berries for 30 seconds in a bowl of 125°F water. To get the water to the correct temperature, I used a combination of hot tap water and just-boiled water from my kettle, taking the temperature with an instant-read thermometer. I then dried the berries in my salad spinner, returned them to their original package, and stored them on a shelf in my refrigerator.
Results: First off, getting the water to the correct temperature is a bit fussy — not difficult but more effort than I think I want to go through when I get back from a shopping trip. At the six-day mark in the fridge, a lot of the berries had started to break down and get squishy; one or two even had mold on them.
Raspberry Storage Method: Vinegar Bath
Stayed fresh for: 7 days
Rating: 7/10
About this method: I dunked the berries in a water bath made with 1 part white vinegar and 3 parts water (I used 1 cup and 4 cups). Then I drained them and spun them dry, and stored them in a single layer in a paper towel–lined container with the lid slightly open to promote airflow.
Results: Although this was the winning method for our strawberry storage showdown, it did not outperform the top three methods here. Still, keeping fragile raspberries fresh for a full 7 days is quite a feat. At that point, the berries were on a decline. Unlike the previous methods that rendered the berries mushy or slimy, this method rendered them dry and almost withered. Some were unpleasantly soft, but the main problem was that they seemed dried-out.
Raspberry Storage Method: Unwashed, in a Single Layer on a Plate
Stayed fresh for: 8 days
Rating: 8/10
About this method: This was the second method that left the berries unwashed. I simply transferred them from their original package to a large plate lined with paper towels, covered them loosely with plastic wrap, and stashed them on a shelf in my fridge.
Results: These berries stayed bright, firm, and fresh for a full week. On the 8th day, though, they took a dramatic downturn, as many of them got so mushy that they “melted” into the paper towels.
Raspberry Storage Method: In a Berry Keeper
Stayed fresh for: 13 days
Rating: 9.5/10
About this method: After rinsing the berries in cold water and drying them in my salad spinner, I placed them in a berry keeper, a container specifically designed to keep produce fresh. The size of the container prevented the berries from resting in a single layer; they were slightly piled on top of each other. I then placed the container on the designated shelf in my refrigerator.
Results: I couldn’t believe how long these berries lasted. Their texture remained firm and plump, and there were no signs of decay until the 13-day mark, when some of them started to get squishy. The only thing preventing this method from receiving a perfect rating is that it requires the purchase of a special piece of equipment … and another no-cost method performed just as well.
Raspberry Storage Method: In an Airtight Container
Stayed fresh for: 13 days
Rating: 10/10
About this method: To test this method, I rinsed the berries in cold water, dried them thoroughly in my salad spinner, and arranged them in a paper towel-lined airtight container like this. I stored the container on the same shelf in my fridge as all the other raspberries.
Results: The berries were surprisingly picture-perfect for almost two full weeks. I would have never thought that it would be possible to keep raspberries fresh for so long without special equipment. But these were bright, plump, firm, juicy, and fragrant for 13 days, with only a few going soft at that point — and notably, fewer than with the berry keeper method above. It takes maybe 2 minutes to prep the berries for this storage method, and that is time well-spent; the reward of super-fresh fruit outweighs the tiny bit of effort involved.
Overall Key Takeaways
- Moisture is the downfall of raspberries. Make sure to dry them thoroughly after washing them; the salad spinner method works very well. If you worry that the berries are too fragile for the spinner, know that I had no problems at all. If your berries are already a bit soft, you should probably line the spinner with paper towels first.
- Keeping your berries mostly or fully enclosed (as long as they’re dry) is key. Also, lining the container with a paper towel helps to control moisture as well. Lots of airflow, like with the colander method and the lid-ajar vinegar bath method, didn’t seem to do the berries any favors. And piling them on top of each other (in the original package or in the bowl shape of the colander) wasn’t great, either. The berry keeper system uses its own special engineered magic to keep the fruit fresh, but you can also achieve the same results with items you already have on hand.