How to choose nitrate-free cherries: 3 ways

Summer is the season of fruits, and especially in June, healthy delicacies such as cherries begin to appear on sale. But not everyone knows how to choose a safe berry.

The FoodOboz editorial team has prepared a few simple rules for you to consider when choosing cherries to make them safe and tasty.

1. Appearance.

To choose the right cherry, try it to the touch - it should not be too hard or soft. Make sure it is ripe, but not overripe. There should be no streaks. The color of the fruit is brilliant. The berry must be sold with stalks (so it will last longer). If there is stickiness, then most likely it is already stale.

Be sure to taste and smell it. If there is a specific fermentation smell, you should not even consider buying - intensive spoilage has already begun.

2. Worminess

There is a simple way to identify wormy cherries. Take one of the ripest or even overripe berries and see what's inside. If there is a worm there, then the cherry may be all wormy. In addition, a berry with a worm is softer and darker to the touch, as if it has been "eaten" from the inside.

At the same time, do not forget that worms are good at detecting the presence of chemicals, and this can help determine the naturalness of the product. If you find a worm in only one berry, and the rest are clean, then you can buy such a cherry.

3. Storage

The storage technology for sweet cherries is the same as for cherries. But you need to know that its shelf life is shorter than that of cherries (about a month) - about 2 weeks.

It is strongly recommended that you never mix fresh berries with spoiled, stale ones. Otherwise, their spoilage will begin immediately. Therefore, the fruits must be sorted before storage.

If you want to preserve them, you should choose cherries of black or light yellow color. Pitted berries will keep longer. Cherries can also be dried and frozen.