LIFESTYLE / Foods

Useful tips on choosing ripe fruit
(The Christian Science Monitor)
Updated: 2006-06-01 13:45

Summer is coming and everybody knows that summer is the season of fruit. But unless you own an orchard or can buy fruit at a local farmers' market, "perfectly ripe fruit" is often not an option. In today's grocery stores, you're more likely to find fruit at the rock-hard stage, then you must ripen it at home. This is because the road from growers to consumers is typically long, so growers must pick fruit while it's as hard as a cue ball. Only in such a state will fruit arrive at grocery stores relatively unblemished - and therefore appealing to shoppers.

Not all fruit ripens after harvest. It may become softer, juicier, or less acidic, but its starches stop converting into sugar after it has been picked, so it's important to select good quality at the store. Fruits that don't ripen further at home include berries, citrus fruit, grapes, and pineapples. They must be refrigerated or they will rot.

Of the fruits that do ripen at home, some reach their peak faster than others, provided they were picked after what growers call the "mature green" phase. Common ones include: bananas, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, and kiwi.

These fruits naturally emit ethylene gas, which accelerates the ripening process. Placing fruit in a paper bag and closing the top helps concentrate this gas, causing fruit to ripen faster. Bananas are particularly prolific ethylene producers, so if you enclose one in the bag with other ripening fruits, it will accelerate the process even more. Check them regularly, though, to catch them before they rot.

A room temperature of around 70 degrees F. is ideal for ripening. In warm temperatures, fruit ripens faster. In the refrigerator, fruit ripens very slowly.

After ripening, most fruits like it cold and humid. But they also need to breathe, so don't store them in a closed plastic bag. Open the supermarket plastic bag in which you bought the fruit before you place it in the refrigerator. Transfer fruits that need ripening into a paper bag, close the top, and let them sit at room temperature.

Here's how to know when fruit is ready:

1. Apples should be firm and crisp - not mealy. If you can dent them with your fingers, they'll make disappointing eating. They may be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks.

2. Bananas should be fully yellow without brown spots. They ripen fast, so buy them partly green. Contrary to popular belief (and despite the original "Chiquita Banana" jingle), you may refrigerate them after they've ripened. Their skin turns dark in the cold, but inside they are still good.
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