All articles
Everything on The Fruit Drawer, organised by topic.
Fruit Shopping
- How to Choose a Ripe Avocado for Today or Later — Choose a ripe avocado by matching even firmness to the day you will use it.
- How to Choose Ripe Fruit Without One Magic Test — Choose ripe fruit by combining several clues rather than trusting one shortcut. Reject leaking, moldy, deeply bruised, or badly damaged pieces first.
- How to Choose a Ripe Mango Without Squeezing It Silly — To choose a ripe mango, first decide when you will eat it. A mango for today should yield slightly under very gentle pressure and may smell sweet and…
- How to Choose Ripe Peaches for the Day You Need Them — Choose peaches free of bruises, breaks, leaks and decay. Look past the red blush to the background color: cream or gold is more useful than green.
- How to Choose a Ripe Pineapple Using Several Cues — Choose a pineapple that is free of cracks, leaks, decay and soft patches, then compare sound fruit of similar size.
- How to Choose a Ripe Watermelon at the Store — Choose a watermelon without cracks, bruises, leaks or soft patches, then compare sound melons of similar size.
- How to Ripen an Avocado at Home and Check It — Ripen a sound, mature avocado at room temperature and check it daily with one broad, gentle palm test.
- How to Ripen Bananas for Different Days of the Week — Ripen bananas for different days by sorting them into use-soon, use-next, and use-later groups based on current color, firmness, aroma, and condition.
- How to Ripen Fruit at Home Without Guessing — Ripen only physiologically mature fruit that can continue after harvest, such as bananas, avocados, kiwifruit, peaches, pears, plums and tomatoes.
- How to Ripen Kiwi at Home Without Losing Track — Ripen sound, firm full-size kiwifruit at room temperature and check it daily with one broad, gentle pressure test.
- How to Ripen Pears at Home and Catch the Right Moment — Ripen firm European pears at room temperature and check the narrow neck beside the stem every day.
Fruit Storage
- How to Freeze Fresh Fruit for Its Next Use — Freeze sound fruit at an appropriate eating stage and choose the pack for its next use: tray-freeze separate pieces, dry-pack recipe portions, use sugar…
- How to Freeze Grapes as Separate Pieces — To freeze grapes as separate pieces, choose firm, ripe seedless grapes; stem, sort, wash under running water, and dry them thoroughly.
- How to Freeze Peaches for the Dish Ahead — To freeze peaches, choose ripe, sound fruit; wash under running water; peel, pit, and cut it for the intended dish.
- How to Store Apples and Remove Trouble Early — Inspect apples before storage and reserve only sound fruit for a longer hold.
- How to Store Berries So They Last Longer — To help berries last longer, refrigerate them promptly at 40 °F (4 °C) or below, sort out crushed or moldy fruit, and keep the remaining berries dry.
- How to Store Citrus Fruit for the Time You Need — Keep sound whole citrus on a cool counter away from direct sun when it will be used soon.
- How to Store Cut Melon Safely — Refrigerate cut melon promptly in clean covered containers at 40°F (4°C) or below.
- How to Store Fresh Fruit by Type and Ripeness — Store fresh fruit according to type, present ripeness and whether it is whole or cut.
- How to Store Grapes Without Trapping Damage — Refrigerate grapes promptly, dry and unwashed, in a clean perforated bag or ventilated produce container.