I'm having a problem where the blackberries I buy from the store on Sunday seem to be spoiled on Monday. On Sunday, I specifically look around the outside of the box and check if any blackberries have white fluff on them. If I don't see it then, then when I actually open the berries on Monday I will see the fluff. This is irritating because I don't know whether I am supposed to throw these out, and I buy large quantities of these berries to last me the week.
So my 2 questions are:
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How do I know whether a blackberry is safe to eat? If some blackberries have that white mold on it, but the others don't, can I throw that berry out and use adjacent berries?
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How am I supposed to store blackberries to prevent it from molding after 1 day? I highly doubt my grocery store will be selling moldy berries deliberately so maybe I am storing it incorrectly.
Best Answer
As soon as you get them home, inspect for damaged berries & discard any that are not perfect. Wash the rest in a colander or sieve under cold running water. Drain well.
Spread on dry paper towel for 30 mins to fully drain & dry, then put them in a new box with paper towel under & over - don't seal them with a snap lid.
Place in the fridge, in the salad crisper if you have one.
Life-span should now be more like a week.
The rapid spread of mould is from possibly just one single damaged berry. If they are touching & sweating, that can spread like wildfire. If they are clean, dry & cold, in air that can circulate around them, then you should be fine.
You could possibly be OK eating ones from the opposite side of the original punnet, but I wouldn't really. Safe rather than sorry, so do the preventative work first.
If it happens again even after you took proper care, pick a new store, or complain at the first one - though bear in mind that even with care, they are still fragile & won't last forever. Your sign of end-of-life when clean & dry should be shrinkage, they will eventually start to dry out & look wrinkled, rather than mould.
From comments under the OP [1] - it's possible that the mould spores are in the fridge not in the berries. The berries, if damaged in any way, simply provide a suitable breeding ground.
I'd recommend a fridge-sanitisation day. My method will prevent fast cross-contamination, but won't kill existing spores.
[1] "It's very strange since this problem started only in the last 2 months. I don't know if the grocery store is continuously selling moldy berries or not"