Harvesting and preserving strawberries

Please introduce to your children the technique of harvesting and preserving strawberries.

1. Harvest

- When the market is near, harvest when 75% of the fruits are red or pink.
- When the market is far away, harvest when 20-40% red or pink fruits.
- Another manifestation of nearly ripening is when the ears are curled up, the skin has a special smell.
- Collect in cool, dewy weather, usually from 8-10 am or after 3 pm.
- Do not let the sunshine in the place, use mulberry leaves to cover the basket containing fruits.
- Use your finger to press lightly to get into the small clean areas, combine classification then put it into big basket about 20 kg, with lining and cover with strawberry leaves above.

2. Classification

Type l: Big beautiful fruit, no pests, no crushing.
Type 2: Fruit is beautiful, pest-free, not crushed.
Type 3: Fruit small, deep, crushed, ripe fruit.

3. Packing and shipping

- Strawberries are packed in small shallow carton boxes, or shallow baskets with lined leaves. During transport, small boxes or baskets are placed in large baskets, also shallow.

- The fruit layer at the bottom of the box is arranged with the stem downwards, the middle layer is to be horizontal and stumped.

- When transporting, do not put boxes together. There are wood prices on the car for the box to be airy and transported when it's cool or at night.

4. Preservation

Berries are easy to crush, so if they cannot be sold during the day, they must be processed into wine or jam.

5. How to make strawberry syrup

- 3-4 kg of fresh strawberries, pick up stalks, rinse, clean.
- Mix well with 1kg white round. Put in the cool place.
- After 3-5 days (in Da Lat), when the fermentation is completed, the fruits rise. Take a filter through a syrup cloth or cocktail.