You wash your raspberries, put them into a bowl of water, and expect nothing more than a little dirt to float away. Then you look again. Something tiny is moving in the water. At first, you might think it’s a piece of plant material. Then it moves again. And suddenly, the innocent bowl of raspberries sitting on your kitchen counter doesn’t look quite so innocent anymore. Videos and photographs showing tiny, pale, worm-like creatures emerging from berries have circulated widely online, leaving many people asking the same question: “How did those tiny worms get inside my fruit?” The answer is both surprising and surprisingly natural. In some cases, what people are seeing are insect larvae that were already associated with the fruit. Raspberries and other soft fruits can provide an ideal environment for certain small fruit flies to lay eggs. The larvae can be extremely difficult to notice before the fruit is washed or handled. And while the sight can certainly be unpleasant, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the berries were rotten or dangerously contaminated. Here’s what’s actually happening. The Strange Discovery Begins With a Simple Bowl of Water The idea of soaking fruit before eating it isn’t new.
soaked my raspberry in salt water and saw these white wiggling things come out. Should I just throw them away?
