If there is mold on a strawberry, you don’t have to throw away the whole skin right away. However, you should be careful about what you eat. We explain what you have to pay attention to.
Not all mold is dangerous: precious cultures on cheese, for example, are edible. The situation is different with unwanted mold on foods such as fruit, vegetables and bread: These can sometimes produce mycotocins. These metabolites can damage the liver and kidneys over the long term and even have a carcinogenic effect, as the Apotheken Umschau reports. That’s why you should also be cautious if you notice mold on a strawberry.
Strawberries get moldy: You should pay attention to that
If you’ve bought a bowl of strawberries and spot mold, you should be on the lookout. You should then do the following:
Don’t eat the moldy strawberry! Even if only one spot has visible mold, you should discard the whole strawberry. Because: Especially in water-containing foods such as strawberries, traces of mold can spread invisibly throughout the fruit. Therefore, discard the moldy strawberry.
Also discard the strawberries that are directly adjacent to the moldy strawberry. The mold may have spread (invisibly) to these as well.
Check any other strawberries in the bowl. If you can’t find any signs of mold on these, they are still safe to eat, as SWR reports. However, if several strawberries are moldy in the bowl, it is better to dispose of the whole bowl, as nutritionist Christoph Meinhold advises in the forum of the Federal Center for Nutrition.
Before you eat the remaining strawberries, be sure to wash them thoroughly. You can use clear water or soda water for this. Then you should eat the strawberries as soon as possible.
Tip: You can prevent mold in strawberries by not storing them in their skins, but rather laying them out flat on a plate in the fridge. Nevertheless, you should consume the perishable fruit as soon as possible – preferably on the day of purchase. You can also freeze strawberries.
Strawberries: delicious and healthy – but regional and seasonal, please
Strawberries consist of about 90 percent water and are therefore particularly low in calories – at least without sugar. They are rich in minerals such as magnesium, calcium and potassium and also provide more vitamin C than citrus fruits. Around 100 grams of strawberries cover the daily vitamin C requirement. From a health point of view, there is a lot to be said for the popular fruit, which, despite its name, is actually a nut.
Strawberries are only really healthy if they come from organic cultivation. Because conventional strawberries are mostly contaminated with pesticides, as Öko-Test found out in a comprehensive test. We therefore recommend that you only buy strawberries of certified organic quality.
But strawberries can also be problematic from an ecological point of view if they do not come from regional cultivation: imported strawberries often come from Spain or other southern countries. Since a lot of water is used for cultivation (up to 280 liters for 1 kilo!), this is partly to blame for the water shortage in those countries. The long transport route also contributes to the poor ecological balance of imported strawberries. In addition, there are even reports of rapes on Spanish strawberry plantations.
We therefore recommend that you only buy organic strawberries from German outdoor cultivation. The delicious fruits are in season here from May to August. Of course, even better are strawberries you picked yourself from the neighboring strawberry field or you plant strawberries yourself.
