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Fruit
Care 101
Many
people tell us that they always put fruit out in a fruit bowl...or
else they'll forget to eat it! But most fruit does not keep well
in a fruit bowl! A better solution, if you must keep some
out, is to just keep out what you plan to eat that day and replace
it with fruit from the fridge when needed.
In
addition to that general rule of thumb, we offer some individual
care recommendations for our different types of fruit...
Asian
Pears
- Refrigerate
and humidify (keep in a loosely closed plastic bag). No
extra ripening time is needed. Asian pears, like apples,
should not be left in a fruit bowl for more than a day or two,
and they are best eaten straight out of the fridge.
- Very
large Asian pears can be cut in halves or quarters...storing the
extra wrapped in plastic wrap. Asian pears generally do
not turn brown when they are cut, like apples and peaches do.
- Some
Asian pears (Olympic in particular) develop internal discoloration
of the flesh. This is caused by excess sugar in the
fruit flooding out into the intercellular spaces. Although
it may not look pretty, it is just fine (and very sweet!) to eat.
Apples
- Refrigerate
and humidify. No extra ripening time is needed.
- Early
season varieties (before Oct. 1) should be kept refrigerated,
as they will quickly lose their crunchiness if kept at room temperature.
- Late
season varieties (after Oct. 1) may be kept in a fruit
bowl for a couple of days if desired...they may gain a bit of
sweetness and flavor, but will lose some of their crunch.
European
Pears
- Keep
at room temperature to ripen. To delay ripening, refrigerate
and humidify.
- To
ripen, place on the counter or in a fruit bowl. Early
season varieties will usually ripen in 1 - 3 days, while later
season varieties will take 1 - 7 days to develop their full buttery
texture and proper flavor.
- Test
ripeness daily by trying to slightly indent the fruit near the
stem end with gentle pressure from your thumb. Feel for
a bit of 'give'.
- To
stagger ripening, so you don't have a bunch of pears ripening
all at once, keep some pears refrigerated while others are on
the counter ripening.
- When
fully ripened, use the fruit promptly or refrigerate for a day
or two. Refrigerating for longer than that tends to turn
a fully ripened pear 'grainy'.
Peaches and Nectarines
-
Our
peaches are picked tree ripe, and will generally achieve the
desired texture/softness in 1 to 3 days on the counter.
We can tell you at market how close they are, and how long they'll
take to soften up.
-
Keep
at room temperature to allow the peaches to soften. To
delay softening, refrigerate and humidify.
-
To
soften, keep the peaches on the counter or in a fruit bowl.
Some people put peaches in a brown paper bag to hasten the process.
That is fine, provided you remember that they are in the bag!
We prefer to keep ours in the open where we can see them and
check on their softness.
-
To
test the firmness, you can thumb test a peach on the cheek of
the fruit in the same way that you test European pears by the
stem.
-
As
with European pears, part of a weekly supply can usually be
refrigerated and then brought out later in the week to soften.
-
While
some people say that you should never refrigerate peaches, we
have found this only to be true with peaches that have been
picked 'too green'. Many commercial orchards pick fruit
too early. Then, the fruit 'shuts down' when it is refrigerated,
and further ripening does not occur. When picked tree-ripe,
as our peaches are, the fruit continues the ripening process
even when it is cold... although refrigeration does delay the
process. You can refrigerate our peaches for a short period
of time without losing much in the way of flavor or texture.
It's certainly better to refrigerate a few, if you have too
many, than to allow them to 'get ahead' of you at room temperature.
Plums
-
Store
and allow to soften (if desired) in the same manner as peaches.
-
To
test for softness, the whole fruit should be squeezed in the
palm of your hand to see how much give it has.
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