Blackberry season is delicious! Get some tips to store blackberries so they stay fresh as long as possible. Plus, get some easy blackberry recipes.
How to Store Blackberries
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One of the best things about summer is all the fresh berries! I love blackberries, and I love to cook with them. We have some very prolific tame blackberry bushes on our farm, so I have a lot of fresh blackberries every single summer. I’ve learned pretty quickly the best ways to store blackberries to keep them fresh.
If you purchase blackberries, keep them in their original container whether it’s a plastic clamshell or a cardboard berry box. They should be refrigerated and kept in the low-humidity crisper drawer in your refrigerator (the fruit drawer).
Do not wash blackberries until you’re ready to use them. If you only need part of your berries, wash only the ones you need and keep the rest in the refrigerator. If you wash all the berries when you first bring them home, they will stay slightly damp, no matter how much you dry them. Moisture breeds mold, so any water left on the berries will make them go bad more quickly.
Blackberries should be kept in some kind of vented container – either a plastic vented clamshell from the grocery store, a cardboard berry box, or a container like these Rubbermaid Fresh Works Produce Savers (my favorite). Venting is important for air flow – blackberries produce ethylene, a plant hormone that tells fruits and vegetables to ripen. If blackberries are in a completely sealed container, the ethylene will make the berries get overripe and go bad faster. If the container is vented, the ethylene gas can escape and your berries will stay fresh longer.
Venting is also important to allow any extra moisture to escape. Moisture can get out through the vents in a plastic clamshell, is absorbed by a cardboard berry box, or collects under the “shelf” in the Rubbermaid Fresh Works Produce Saver containers. The bonus part of using a Rubbermaid Produce Saver container (or another one like it) is that you can put the berries in any part of the refrigerator you want; they don’t have to stay in the crisper drawer.
Blackberries should stay fresh in your refrigerator for 3-6 days after you bring them home. Keeping them in a Rubbermaid Fresh Works Produce Saver container may help them stay fresh a few days longer, if they last that long!
For more blackberry tips, visit these articles:
Enjoy!
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