1 to 2 days.
Make sure that if you do wash them, that you dry them very well. Extra water on your strawberries will mess up your chocolate.
I'm not sure WendySue. They may be fine overnight in the fridge but seems like they get sweaty looking if left too long. I make a lot of cakes with chocolate covered strawberries but I always dip my strawberries the day of to make sure they are fresh; and I encourage customers to wait til the day of the event to pick up the cake but I'm not *positive* they wouldn't last longer.
I actually like to make mine a day ahead of time--I find that the strawberries start to make their own 'sauce' after a couple of hours in the chocolate, and it makes for an extra sweet treat when you bite into them.
Its tricky though, because I think after abour 2 days they start to loose their freshness. So I guess it depends if they plan to use them all on the next day, or still keep them before using a few days after I've made them.
Instead of rinsing them in cold water, take a dampened almost wet paper towel and wipe them. Then do this a second time. Strawberries tend to absorb a lot of water otherwise. Then place them on paper towels to dry and take a dry paper towel to each one to insure there is no moisture on them.
Only use berries that are at their peak but not over ripe. Personally I find it best to make them the day of using them and refrigerate after the chocolate has set. This is usually a subject that brings arguments about whether they should be kept at room temperature or not. I find that at room temperature they start to leak berry juice much sooner. And this is not something that you want if you are using them on a cake. I only place them at the last minute.
I set them on parchment paper in plastic containers and seal. If they sit overnight, I line the container with paper towels.
Hugs Squirrelly
Squirelly brings up good points re: making sure they are nice and dry before dipping. I do rinse mine but I also lay them on a thick terricloth towel to drip dry (sometimes overnight); THEN pat each one individually with a paper towel to make sure they are extra dry before dipping. I also keep the dipped strawberries in the fridge on wax paper and only put them on the cake right before delivery or pick up.
Well I was always fussy about rinsing them really well, especially after that e-coli scare a few years ago with California strawberries that were sold here. I wouldn't even buy them for over a year. But I was watching a few cooking shows where they recommended using a well-dampened paper towel for cleaning them. What I discovered was that they were not retaining the moisture the way they did when I ran them under water and so not bleeding out juices near as quickly. I use the same method for cleaning mushrooms.
But most certainly, don't wash your berries ahead and then refrigerate them before dipping. Wash them as close to dipping time and serving time as you possibly can.
I dip them in chocolate, by inserting a tootpick or disposable wooden pickle pick and then inserting the end of the pick into a sheet of styrofoam. Once they are set up, I refrigerate. You can refrigerate on the styrofoam but I prefer a plastic container and send them out that way, in a plastic Ziploc disposable. You can usually fit up to 2 dozen in the rectangular containers.
Hugs Squirrelly
Please make sure you do not dip the strawberries in very hot chocolate. It will make them start weeping sooner. I do mine just before I deliver them. I made a mistake of dipping mine the day before, being so careful and refrigerated some of them and left some out on the counter. By the next day for an afternoon wedding the majority of them had started to weep through the chocolate. Fortunately, I had made enough that I had a lot of extras. I think that I was just in a hurry and the chocolate may have been too warm.
How far in advance can you make chocolate covered strawberries and still count on them tasting fresh and looking good?
I would suggest doing that as close to the event as possible for maximum freshness. So if you can do them the same day then do that.
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