Torah Tidbits

24 May 2012 / 3 Sivan 5772
Issue 984
Issue 984- Shabbat Parshat Vaychi - Chazak
January 08, 2012

Towards Better Kashrut Awareness

Strawberries

It’s that time of year again - delicious and lush strawberries are now in season. Very often we are tempted to buy strawberries, to make a Bracha, and to bite into them. However, as with many fruits and vegetables, this isn’t possible because we must first make sure that we have cleaned and checked the strawberries to make sure they are insect free. This is because strawberries can be infested with thrips, mites, and aphids. Luckily it really isn’t so difficult to clean and check strawberries. The OU’s team of dedicated Rabbanim has established two basic methods for cleaning and checking strawberries.
The first method for cleaning and checking strawberries to be certain they are bug free is as follows: 1) remove the green stem (leaf) from the bottom of the strawberry. This ideally should be done without making a hole in the bottom of the strawberry. If a hole was made then the strawberry should be cut in half.
2) The strawberries should then be placed into water with vegetable cleanser or soap and rubbed gently. In order to make sure that there is enough soap or cleanser in the water one should wait until they see some soapy bubbles forming. 3) The strawberries should be left in this solution for at least five minutes. 4) After the strawberries have soaked for a minimum of five minutes they should be individually washed off under a strong stream of water. Special care should be taken to make sure that all surfaces of the strawberry are washed.
5) After the strawberries have been washed each strawberry should be dried (drying will make it easier to check the strawberries) and inspected to insure that they are indeed bug free.
In the second method one has to cut off the green as well, and once again care should be taken that the green should be removed in a way that doesn’t leave a hole. If a hole is made in the bottom of the strawberry then the strawberry should be cut open. Once this is all done instead of soaking the strawberries one can take a dish brush and rub the bristles back and forth over all the surfaces of the strawberry while the strawberry is being held under a strong stream of water. It is insufficient to merely give a quick scrub. While the scrubbing doesn’t need to be very strong it does need to be thorough. Once the strawberry has been cleaned thoroughly it should be dried and checked to make sure they are clean of insects.
If one wishes to ease the checking process, one can use strong lights and magnifying tools (magnifying tools can make it easier to see bugs that are visible to the naked eye). In the event that multiple strawberries in a container are found to be infested then the entire container should be disposed of and one should not rely on the above cleaning and checking methods.
We hope that these instructions will allow everyone to enjoy “Kosher” strawberries.
Bon appetite!

Your Comments

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I live in Israel and I would like to use fresh strawberries in cooking and to eat fresh. I understand how to clean them with soap and water. What do I have to do to check for bugs after washing strawberries? For example; Do I have to use a magnifying glass? Is rubbing with a paper towel and examining the paper towel for bugs enough? Do I have to check each berry I buy or is it sufficient to check a few? Thank you for addressing any other questions and any or all of these questions.

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