Fruit questions.

[Nuzzolese]

This morning I had the most disappointing peach. I had to eat it, it was starting to turn brown and bruised on the outside, but the inside was not even ripe yet, and it had no taste or pleasingly fresh aroma as a peach is supposed to.
Last week's plum was equally a downer. They both began to overripe before developing a full flavor. What the hell?

How do you know what kinds of fruit to buy?
Should I only get certain fruits grown in a certain region?
Is it still too early to expect much out of a peach?
Are Chiquita bananas the best?
Should I buy fruit that is ripe or just about to be ripe, and how can you tell if it's just about to be ripe?
Is there any way to delay or accelerate the ripening of a fruit? :confused:

[mca47]

This morning I had the most disappointing peach. I had to eat it, it was starting to turn brown and bruised on the outside, but the inside was not even ripe yet, and it had no taste or pleasingly fresh aroma as a peach is supposed to.
Last week's plum was equally a downer. They both began to overripe before developing a full flavor. What the hell?

How do you know what kinds of fruit to buy?
Should I only get certain fruits grown in a certain region?
Is it still too early to expect much out of a peach?
Are Chiquita bananas the best?
Should I buy fruit that is ripe or just about to be ripe, and how can you tell if it's just about to be ripe?
Is there any way to delay or accelerate the ripening of a fruit? :confused:

sniff and squeeze! :D
seriously, don't buy any fruit without given it a sniff and a gentle squeeze. a peach should have a sweet "peachy" smell if it's going to be good. no smell=bad peach. i'd also suggest going to farmer's markets or stores that specialize in produce. supermarkets are generally really bad about getting quality fruit and veggies. if you have to get your fruit at the giant supermarket, organic fruit will usually be much better than non-organic. it will be more expensive but your tastebuds will be much happier. also, buy fruit that is ripe. if you aren't going to eat it right away get it slightly ripe. my roommate uses a banana tree. it keeps the bananas from turning brown as fast. i'm still skeptical about it though. ask the produce guy what's new, fresh, and in season.

[zippo]

How do you know what kinds of fruit to buy?

you have to be a mom

[jabumbo]

the produce markets are definetly much better than the supermarket...i often walk down to the places during lunch break and pick up my fruits and veggies for the week...


but why don't you just come on over, and ill show you a nice piece of fruit... :cool:

[b-grrrlie]

I would never buy a Chiquita-banana! They've used so much incecticides, fungicides and whatever they can't be healthy! Besides all those chemicals ruin the health of the people who collect the bananas.

I remember when I worked in the city often at lunch time I walked pass this office with pavement-level windows and they'd put an apple on display. They'd written the date with a red marker pen. The apple was there for almost 6 months, looking as fresh the day it was picked the whole time. :eek:

I prefer organicly grown fruit cause you know it doesn't have all those "preservatives" in them. And the local stuff is always the best.



btw why did you have to eat that peach when you knew it had gone bad already?

[Nuzzolese]

Organic fruit is more expensive. I guess you get what you pay for. Damn, that always comes around. Stupid money. I had to eat the peach because I paid for it. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't good.


Jabumbo you're freaking me out. What do you have? Mangoes? Blueberries?

I had some organic bananas the other day, cost a dollar twenty five more than Chiquita and they tasted the same to me. But I guess it's healthy so it's worth it. There is a farmer's market here on Sunday mornings I just keep forgetting about it.

I hate the oranges and apples in the super market they look huge and perfect and waxy and the oranges have that vagina that some one mentioned before.

[ms.peachy]

sniff and squeeze! :D
a peach should have a sweet "peachy" smell if it's going to be good.

I totally agree.

[jabumbo]

Jabumbo you're freaking me out. What do you have? Mangoes? Blueberries?

i dont eat blueberries, unless they are chopped and blended...

mangoes on the other hand...



what'd i say wrong?

[Nuzzolese]

i dont eat blueberries, unless they are chopped and blended...

mangoes on the other hand...



what'd i say wrong?

Why don't you eat blueberries? They're delish. In fact they're so good I always choke on them because I practically inhale them.

[jabumbo]

i dont really know...i never got into them. i sort of like the flavor, but not enough to eat them plain or anything.

the occasional blueberry muffin or blended up in a smoothie or something i can handle...


ill eat just about any other fruit though...just about...

[Nuzzolese]

i dont really know...i never got into them. i sort of like the flavor, but not enough to eat them plain or anything.

the occasional blueberry muffin or blended up in a smoothie or something i can handle...


ill eat just about any other fruit though...just about...

Limes? I've never been a huge lime fan, unless it's squeezed over spicy mexican food.

[JBernas]

Don't put your bananas with your other fruit...it will cause them to ripen more quickly and go bad....ever notice that bananas are always separate from the other fruit at the store?

[Nuzzolese]

Don't put your bananas with your other fruit...it will cause them to ripen more quickly and go bad....ever notice that bananas are always separate from the other fruit at the store?

I did notice that at the store. Thanks!

Does anyone know if any nutrients or flavor are significantly lost if you freeze the fruit or chop it up and refridgerate it?

[cosmo105]

fun fact: don't put apples next to carrots. the apples will lose their sweetness!

and yeah, the people in here have already said some really great advice.

just don't buy more than you realistically could eat, or you'll end up having to throw things out. also, if anything isn't ripening fast enough, like avocados, apricots, peaches, pears, etc., then put it in a brown paper bag with the end closed for a day or so, until it ripens. i've noticed that sometimes a batch of organic bananas will NEVER ripen. it's weird. it happens to us at my store about once every five or six months or so. customers will complain that they've had their bananas for two weeks and they're still as green as the day they purchased them. i know abcdefz said he had a similar problem once. i can't explain it. but really, now that i'm eating all organic produce, i will never go back. grocery store stuff tastes awful to me now.

i would suggest getting a non-toxic produce wash, too. even organic fruit has some contaminants on it from handling and environmental pollutants in the air and such, and it's a good idea to wash everything - even things you cut open, like lemons and melons, because the knife drags toxins from the skin all the way in with each cut. just make sure you get one that's all natural, such as one with grapefruit seed extract.

[jabumbo]

someone once told me to put bananas in the fridge so they wouldnt ripen so fast

maybe it was just the fact that my fridge is really cold, but the bananas didnt taste so great after that

[Nuzzolese]

What will the toxins and polutins do to me? You know, I don't really care enough to only buy organic and to wash with a special produce wash. I dirnk tap water it no doubt has stuff that will make me infertile. I drive a car, I sit in traffic with the windows down, I breath recycled conditioned air. If I'm going to be sick and miserable anyway then I'll only be more so if I keep worrying about toxins and germs and polutants and carcinogens. Yeah I'm apathetic about my health compared to cosmo but I feel more care-free leaving some things to chance.
Incidentally I just ate an apple, bought from the supermarket. It was scrumptious.

[Nuzzolese]

someone once told me to put bananas in the fridge so they wouldnt ripen so fast

maybe it was just the fact that my fridge is really cold, but the bananas didnt taste so great after that

Didn't you ever hear the song?

I'm Chaquita banana and I'm here to say
Bananas are delicious in most every way!
You can eat them now or you can eat them later
but never ever put them in your refridgerator!

[jabumbo]

Didn't you ever hear the song?

I'm Chaquita banana and I'm here to say
Bananas are delicious in most every way!
You can eat them now or you can eat them later
but never ever put them in your refridgerator!

hadn't heard that one until now! thats a pretty catchy tune actually...

[cosmo105]

you know, there's literally fecal matter everywhere :)

[Nuzzolese]

you know, there's literally fecal matter everywhere :)

Exactly, so it doesn't matter. I inhale it constantly.

[Nuzzolese]

hadn't heard that one until now! thats a pretty catchy tune actually...

It really is, nice little cha cha or something. Maybe it's a mambo or a merengue. I don't know latin dances.

[b-grrrlie]

just don't buy more than you realistically could eat, or you'll end up having to throw things out. also, if anything isn't ripening fast enough, like avocados, apricots, peaches, pears, etc., then put it in a brown paper bag with the end closed for a day or so, until it ripens. i've noticed that sometimes a batch of organic bananas will NEVER ripen. it's weird. it happens to us at my store about once every five or six months or so. customers will complain that they've had their bananas for two weeks and they're still as green as the day they purchased them.
Actually if you put an apple close to them then they will ripen. But I think the ones that never ripen have been picked too early so they never had a change "to grow up".

[discopants]

You can't whack a nice 'nana sandwhich.

[Nuzzolese]

You can't whack a nice 'nana sandwhich.

whack it with peanut butter and it goes from nice to delicious