Once to give up preparing food:

First of all, do not wash strawberries until you are ready to cook with or eat them. Strawberries have a sponge-like quality that makes them absorb as much moisture as possible, which means that if you wash the berries in advance and then store them, you will come back as quickly as they were.

Keep it simple:

If you are buying organic berries from a farmer's market or from another local source, you just need to rinse them in well cold water before putting them on a dish towel or paper towel to dry them. After that, you are ready to cut, bake or pop in your mouth.

Get sharp cleaning with vinegar rinse:

If you are buying strawberries from a grocery store, especially if they are traditionally grown with pesticides and fertilizers, you will need to take a few extra steps before consuming. Strawberry is one of the most sprayed traditional crops, and you want to reduce the amount of pesticides that you and your family consume. Additionally, the trip from the big farm to the grocery store shelf is a long journey and the berries have been handled by many different people and subjected to different conditions. Needless to say, it is worth a few extra moments to make sure your fruit is clean in the best way.

To get more dirt and chemicals from the berries, fill a large bowl of four parts water with one part of white vinegar. Put the berries in the bowl until they are completely immersed in the vinegar rinse, and soak them for 20 minutes in the bowl. Rinse fruits well under cold water and dry them with a cloth or paper towels. Don't worry, there won't be a little bit of lingering vinegar - just the summer's totally sweet and delicious taste.