# Why do strawberries rot so fast?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strawberries-rot-so-fast/61627>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 11, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strawberries-rot-so-fast/61627 "2001-04-11T19:44:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strawberries-rot-so-fast/61627/1 "2001-04-11T19:44:43Z")

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What is it about this delectable fruit that makes mold descend on it like frat boys on a drunken high-school cheerleader? Most foodstuffs are at least SLIGHTLY resistant to the pernicious effects of mold, but not strawberries. Sometimes you buy them at the supermarket and they’re moldy by the time you get them home. Mrs. Chef recently bought a medium-size box of lovely looking strawberries at the market. I said, “You shouldn’t buy so many - they’ll go bad before you can eat them all.” Scoffing, she bought them anyway (we checked them carefully and not one of them was moldy) and ate some that night. The next morning it was like a penicillin farm.

I’ve never known ANY other fruit to spoil so fast - not even other berries. So what’s the scoop? Any grocers, farmers, or mold experts out there that can enlighten me?

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**Author:** ![Shiva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiva)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-strawberries-rot-so-fast/61627/2 "2001-04-11T22:01:30Z")

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Heh heh heh. Your Frat-boys-on-a-drunken-cheerleader analogy is close, but it’s more like Frat boys on a pizza actually.

The most common strawberry eating fungus is _Botrytis cinerea_, AKA Gray Mold. Bo just loves sweet, juicy warm food, so short of buying sour, dry strawberries your best plan is to keep them cold. Postharvest berries are best stored at 0°C (32°F)(they won’t freeze because of their sugar content), and even then _Botrytis_ is still active.

[http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/ProduceFacts/Fruit/strawberry.html](http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/ProduceFacts/Fruit/strawberry.html)