In our last article we talked about the importance of keeping meat and poultry cold in order to retain its freshness. While the fridge may be the best place for poultry and seafood, think twice about what fruits you’re keeping in the fridge. Lets get right into it, some best prac for keeping fruit fresh.
Berries and Hot Baths
Berries belong in the fridge – keep them in a ventilated plastic container lined with paper towel to absorb excess moisture. by giving your berries a hot bath before storing them. Called ‘thermotherapy’ the process simply involves immersing and swishing berries in their plastic basket in a pot of hot water. The hot water kills off mould spores and keeps them fresher longer. Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries fare best at 125 degrees for 30 seconds. After bathing the berries spread them out on a towel to allow them to breathe and then store.
Bananas, Apples and Kiwi
Keep fruit such as bananas, apples and kiwi fruit separate to others in the fruit bowl – as they ripen, they release a gas that can cause other fruit to ripen prematurely. There has always been a lingering myth that says refrigerating bananas only makes them go bad faster. While a banana in the fridge may find a brown or black skin in just a few hours, what lies beyond the peel remains perfectly edible. The cold temperature of a fridge encourages an enzyme found in bananas (polyphenyl oxidase) to polymerise phenols in the banana skin into polyphenols, which in turn blackens the banana skins. However, the cold temperature also keeps the banana from ripening even further keeping the fruit perfect within.
Freezing Your Fruits
You can freeze items such as strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and the list goes on… Just make sure you blanch them in hot water before sticking them in below freezing temperatures. Blanching neutralises bacteria present in foods, delaying spoilage.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this article, where we dive into even more fruits and how to keep them fresh.
