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Mold is a common problem for small soft fruit that come in plastic clamshells, like blueberries and raspberries. Often it has a little mold right from the store

Mold is a common problem for small soft fruit that come in plastic clamshells, like blueberries and raspberries. Often it has a little mold right from the store. I try to wash these in water with a some white vinegar as soon as I get home from the grocery store and then right in the fridge.

MichaelApproved 7y ago
And they last for several days in the refrigerator, right?
- jerkstate 7y ago
  There can definitely be too much mold to eat right when you open it. You can usually return it, but for a couple of bucks it's a hassle. And if you don't wash it right away, even a small amount of mold will grow to more than you want to try to wash/cut off in a couple of days. I buy and eat a lot of fruit and my experience agrees with OPs, at least in some cases.
  - MichaelApproved 7y ago
    > at least in some cases. So most of the time, fruits and vegetables keep for days and don't have to be eaten immediately, right? I'm being not picky because this is a conversation in a thread about how people throw out a lot of food. That waste is due, in part, to false sense of spoilage and OP was furthering that false sense.
war1025 7y ago
Blueberries and raspberries are an "eat on the drive home" treat for us. We do have giant 10lb bags of frozen berries that we keep at home. We get them from a Mennonite bulk food store. Not sure where else you can buy such things.
logfromblammo 7y ago
I have long suspected that the switch from basket-like paper containers to plastic clamshell containers has contributed to mold growth. By the time you buy it, it is already too late, because it has been sitting in that plastic moisture prison so long already. The mold is already there. If it were coming from my kitchen, wouldn't it affect the topmost fruits first, rather than the bottommost? Nobody seems to want to fix the mold problem. They blame you, the consumer, for not noticing that the thing you were buying already had mold hidden in the center of the packaging. The seller has a perverse incentive to keep foods sold by weight or by outward appearance moist. They even spray everything on the refrigerated bins with those stupid misters all the time. Cool, dry air would reduce the weight and generate a desiccated appearance over time. I don't remember this happening when I was younger. Is it a flaw in my memory, or do fruits show mold faster now?

MichaelApproved 7y ago

And they last for several days in the refrigerator, right?

jerkstate 7y ago
There can definitely be too much mold to eat right when you open it. You can usually return it, but for a couple of bucks it's a hassle. And if you don't wash it right away, even a small amount of mold will grow to more than you want to try to wash/cut off in a couple of days. I buy and eat a lot of fruit and my experience agrees with OPs, at least in some cases.
- MichaelApproved 7y ago
  > at least in some cases. So most of the time, fruits and vegetables keep for days and don't have to be eaten immediately, right? I'm being not picky because this is a conversation in a thread about how people throw out a lot of food. That waste is due, in part, to false sense of spoilage and OP was furthering that false sense.

war1025 7y ago

Blueberries and raspberries are an "eat on the drive home" treat for us. We do have giant 10lb bags of frozen berries that we keep at home. We get them from a Mennonite bulk food store. Not sure where else you can buy such things.

logfromblammo 7y ago

I have long suspected that the switch from basket-like paper containers to plastic clamshell containers has contributed to mold growth. By the time you buy it, it is already too late, because it has been sitting in that plastic moisture prison so long already. The mold is already there. If it were coming from my kitchen, wouldn't it affect the topmost fruits first, rather than the bottommost? Nobody seems to want to fix the mold problem. They blame you, the consumer, for not noticing that the thing you were buying already had mold hidden in the center of the packaging. The seller has a perverse incentive to keep foods sold by weight or by outward appearance moist. They even spray everything on the refrigerated bins with those stupid misters all the time. Cool, dry air would reduce the weight and generate a desiccated appearance over time. I don't remember this happening when I was younger. Is it a flaw in my memory, or do fruits show mold faster now?