I always wash my fruit before I eat it when I buy it fresh. Recently I've been buying frozen bluberries and honestly I sort of like just eating them straight out of the bag (after letting them sit out for a little bit). But I'm wondering - should I be washing the berries before I eat them? If they were fresh I'd absolutely wash them but I'm unsure if this is necessary for frozen.
Huh. I usually just put them straight in a blender for my smoothie. Never even considered I might have to wash, though I always wash fresh berries. Will have to research more.
Might be easier to blend them together and then just wash the smoothie
Recipe: 30mL Absinthe, 1 singular blueberry
The working man's breakfast
Absinthe is generally bottled at 120-140 proof (60-70% ethanol).
I recommend washing all fruits and veggies before consumption. In theory frozen stuff should be relatively safe but I just don't trust companies to not be comically negligent.
You could always wash and freeze your own berries! Wash em and then freeze in a sealed bag using the straw trick to remove excess air.
Frozen berries are way cheaper. It’s why I get them. But I guess I’ll try washing them and then putting in a freezer safe bag from now on.
It's sounds silly to have to wash and refreeze frozen berries but it also just might be a good idea lol
Isn’t there some warning on atleast some frozen products to not refreeze them? I wonder if there is on frozen berries…
So many problems.
So far as I know it's never dangerous to refreeze so long as you're not doing something like sticking a big pot of hot whatever in the freezer (a slow freeze might mean the center is warm long enough for bacteria to proliferare).
But it can damage texture. Many frozen foods are catefully flash frozen to prevent crystals from breaking up cell walls and so on. Refreezing yourself can form said crystals. So if you freeze, say, cut-up bell-pepper slowly in your freezer it will go floppy when you thaw.
You can do something close to flash freezing at home using a baking sheet. For berries, spread them out one layer thick and put in the freezer for 2 hours. Then you can transfer them to a bag. They'll store even better if you suck air out if the bag before sealing.
Most likely you can just wash, then dry, then freeze on a tray, then put back in a bag with no tricks.
…all this to avoid the slight chance of norovirus. Life is pain.
Thanks for the step by step guide, btw. Appreciate it.
Depends. There have been outbreaks of norovirus traced back to frozen berries, so.....do you feel lucky?
Would washing actually remove norovirus (or any other virus) if it was present?
is norovirus that much bigger of a risk on frozen as it is on fresh. I can only find like one outbreak in the US in relatively recent years linked to frozen blueberries.
I'm in Finland, there's been a few linked to foreign berries. All restaurants are advised to cook foreign berries before serving.
hmm ok. The berries say they're grown in the US and Canada so idk I think I'm relatively safe
I usually put them in a bowl and run them under cold water, but that's more to defrost them a little than any concern about sanitation.
hmm this is a good idea. do you eat them out of the bag or are you cooking them?
Out of the bag, I like when they're still partially frozen.
Tbh, I don't even wash fresh fruit, so you've got my seal of approval.
Best you could do would be a rinse, not sure if trying to use soap would work. It might be difficult to rinse the soap off.
If you try to refreeze they are going to turn into a solid mass though.
As far as I know they're ready to eat so I don't wash them. There are these bags with mixed frozen fruits, ready to be used in smoothies, as well. Nowhere on the packaging does it say to wash them first. Same with frozen vegetables.
